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The Dorchester Book 



RESERVED 



D. J. Cutter, 




COAL AND WOOD, 






Compliments of 


Dorchester, 


ALBERT L. JEWELL, 


MASS. 


Boston. 


CUTTER'S WHARF, 




COMMERCIAL POINT. 




Telephone 317. 





The Dorchester Book 



E. A. HUEBENER & CO., 

FURNITURE. 

RepaUHng and Upholstering. 

ANTIQUE FURNITURE a Specialty. 

Mr. Huebener was born in Dorchester. Learned his trade with Oliver Hall & 
Son, Furniture Manufacturers, Meeting-house Hill, also 12 years with F. Schlotterbeck, 
Parkman Street, and now can be found at 315 Adams Street, near Park, Dorchester. 



J. P. & W. H. Emond 
Carriage Builders /. .-. 



2109 TO 2 1 15 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON. 

QuiNCY A. Shaw, Jr., Treas. A.. H. Folger, Mgr. Wm. L. Tobey, Eng'r. 

The Lockwood Manufacturing Co., 

Iron Works and Docks, 

'^ 61 to 8 5 Sumner Street, East Boston, Mass. 




BUILDERS OF 



Steamships, Tow ats. 



Marine Eiipine^> and Boilers. 

Marine Railway on the Premises. 

Yacht Repairs given Prompt Attention. '■ no. 200, East Boston. 



The Dorchester Book 



^ 
^ 



"A PERFECT FOOD — as Wholesome as 
it is Delicious." 



lwaiteTBai[er&Go:s| 

Breakfast | 

£)Coa. \ 




THE STAHDARD FOR 
FURITT AMD 
EXCELLENCE.... 



TRADE-MARH. 



Costs less than one cent a cup ^ 

Onr Trade-Hark on Every Package, V 

Walter Baker & Co. "d. ^ 

DORCHESTER, HASS. ^ 



ESTABLISHED I780. 



F !■■ 
F 



Fair Profits and No 
Misrepresentations. 



1' 1- 
1' 



fi^e Are Pleased 

To be of service and assist- 
^f}\ ance to those who are doing 
xQOi the good work that this publi- 
cation is the organ of, and 
shall be pleased to have you 
reciprocate by buying any- 
thing vou want that comes 
from Japan, China, or India 
of us, and remember that 
ours is 

YyP The Place to buy Rugs. 

Walter M. Hatch ^ Co., 

/fj and yj Summer Street. 




1851. 



1899. 



Boston 

Young Men's 

Christian 

Union, 

48 BoYLSTON Street 
{near tremont). 

Evening Classes 

Weekly 

Entertainments. 

Employment Bureau. 

"Practical Talks." 

Public 
Religious Services. 

LIBRARY, OVER ij.ooo VOLUMES. 



Membership, $i per Year. 



GYMNASIUM (large and spacious). 

fully equipped with up-to-date apparatus. 

Terms, §5 and §8 per year, according to hours of 

exercise. 

Wm. H. Balpuin, President. George Peirce, Secretary. 






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The Dorchester Book 



Upham's Corner Stable Co. 



N. ETHIER, Manager. 

Successor to ALLARD. 



Hack^ Boarding, 

and Livery Stable, 

No. 767 Dudley Street, 
Dorchester, Mass. 

Telephone, Z48-2 Dorchester. 



reservb:d 



This is the day ot economy. Every unnecessary 

91"/^ T motion is cut off. Every second of time is crowded 
with accomplishment. The successful man trains 
his mind to discriminate, to throw out useless thoughts, to combine 
and condense. 

A few years ago one had to remember where he 
kept glue, twine, fasteners, rubber bands, small labels, 
large labels, small tags, large tags and adhesive paper, — 
nine articles. 

Granting science the brain-cell theory, here were 
nine cells at work on what one cell now does easily 
with the aid of Dennison's "Handy-Box." 

This is a compact chest divided into compartments containing 
the above list of nine indispensable, everj'-day-in-the-week articles. 
Bought separately, they would cost ^l. lo. But you get the Handv- 
Box complete for 75 cents. 

DENNISON MFG. CO., Makers, 

26 Franklin Street, Boston. 
"A woman is as old as she looks." 

Mrs. Lucy Stevens Porter, 
masseuse, 

WILL DO 

Shampooing, Manicuring, Scalp and Facial 

Treatments, Hair Dressing, and Superficial 

Massage at your residence. 

For further particulars address at 

35 Rutland Squ.^re, Boston. 



Raymond & Whitcomb, 

Ticket Office. 

Railroad and Steamship Ticicets and reser- 
vations to all points. 

TOURS TO ALL RESORTS. 

Raymond & Whitcomb, 

296 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. 



CHAS. H. STREETER, 

MERCHANT TAILOR, 

50 Brom FIELD Street, Boston. 



RESERVED 



ESTABLISHED 1862. 



R. & E. F. Gleason, 
Furnishing Undertakers 
and Embalmers. 



OFFICL AND WAREROO.MS : 



33 5 Washington Street, corner Harvard, 
Dorchester District, Boston. 



Telephone Connection, 



The Dorchester Book 



"Jenness Miller" 

SHOES. 




We have established a "Special" 
department for the exclusive sale of 
the **Jenness Miller" shoes for 
women. 

It has remained for a woman to de- 
vise the shape of a perfect and com- 
fortable shoe. Mrs. Jenness Miller 
has given her life to the study of 
Higher Physical Culture and Im- 
provement of Dress for women. 

These shoes represent her idea of 
what a woman should wear. They 
are the most 

COMFORTABLE, DURABLE, AND 
GRACEFUL SHOES MADE. 

We are sole agents for the *'Jenness 
Miller " shoe for this city. A trial 
will convince you of their all-around 
superiority over any other shoe on 
the market to-day. 

\Vc have all sizes from 2 1-2 to 7, 
width AA toE, made of "Velvetta" 
K-id, Box Calf, Tan Russia Leather 
and Patent Calf. 



Price SJ-JO. 

B. SOMMER & Co., 

44. and 46 V\"iiiter Street, Boston, Mass. 



Fine Catering 

in all its 
Branches 



Ice- 
creams 
and Ices, 
Table Deli- 
cacies. ^ 
^ Plain and 
P'ancy Breads, 
Rolls, Soup Sticks. 

.•' Fine China, Glassware, 

Silver, and Table Linen to Let. 

Talbot Ave., Dorchester. 

Telephone, Dorchester 356. 




'9;^i$f$$i$$$i$i$$$$i$;$^i$i$i$-$df$;$$$-$$$$9ii 



A Refrigerator that has a 
reputation back of it. 



The Eddy! 



fit 



% 






1847 to 1899. 

Solid, compact, and made in the best 
possible manner. 

Felting on All Doors and Inside 

Covers. 

Solid Slate-stone Shelves. 

PERFECT DRV-AIR CIRCULATION. 

Once use THE EDDY, and you will 

USE NO OTHER. 

ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE FREE. 

MANUFACTURED BY 



\» 

% 



D. Eddy & Sons, Boston, Mass. % 

336 Adams Street, Dorchester District. ^ 




i 



Amateur Photographers 

Do you want the best work in Boston ? 

ji X 35 films developed, 30 cts. a dozen. 

Blair Films a specialty. 

When we say best, we mean it. 

E. A. PAULINE, 

High-grade Photo Printer, 

333 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. 



The Dorchester Book 

I 




Sun and 
Rain 

Soon demoralize a 

cheap hat. Get 

one that stands 
storms and sunshine. Get one of 

Chamberlain's "Beaconsfield" 
$3.00 DERBYS. 

THEY ARE WARRANTED FAST COLOR. 
663 Washington St., Boston. Three doors south of Boylston St. 




John S. Badger. 



John C. Lowd. 



Edwin P. Burleigh. 



MELVIN & BADGER, 

Druggists and Apothecaries, 
43 Temple Place, Boston. 

A complete line of English Military Hair Brushes in 
leather cases constantly on hand. 

Also a full line of Mediterranean Sponges, Hair, Tooth, 

Nail, and Flesh Brushes, Combs, Ivory Goods, Toilet 
Soaps, etc. 



NORRIS BROTHERS, 

DEALERS IN 

Choice Provisions and Groceries of 

ALL kinds. 

Fruits and Vegetables. Fresh Eggs received direct. 

Fine Teas and Coffees a specialty. 

1673 to 1679 Washington Street, corner Worcester 
Street, City. 

587 to 593 Washington Street, Dorchester. 



Twenty years' experience at the head of the watch- 
adjusting department of The E. Howard 
Watch and Clock Co. 

Henry N. Allen, 

Watchmaker, 
433 Washington Street, Boston. 

Elevator, 3 Winter Street, Room i-. 



RESERVED 



J. A. HATHAWAY & CO., 

Dealers in 

Beef, Pork, Lard, 

Hams, Tallow, etc., 

37 AND 39 Faneuil Hall Market, 
■ BOSTON. 



The Dorchester Book 



Miss M. E. HOGAN, 

Modiste, 

Field Building, Field's Corner, 

DORCHESTER. 



Compliments of 

THE BARDEN CYCLE CO., 

1449 Dorchester Avenue, 
Dorchester. 

"We give the most change back." 

THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY YOUR 

DRUG STORE GOODS 

of us. Lowest cut prices and highest quality our motto. 
We quote a few articles to show the truth of our statement:' — 
Lactated Food, 19c., 39c., 74c. j Scott's Emulsion, 38c., 73c. 5 

Sanford's Ginger, zSc.j Citrate Magnesia Granules, 28c. lb.; 

Malted Milk, 38c., 74c., $3; Minard's Liniment, 15c.; Castoria, 

22c.; Bromo Seltzer, loc, 20c., 40c., 75c.; Mellin's Food, 34c., 

54c.; Cod Liver Oil, Pure Norwegian, 35c. pint. 

Prescriptions our specialty at the lowest prices. 

F. M. GARDNER & COMPANY. 

THREE stores: 

1525 Washington Street {The Sanford), 863 Harrison Avenue, 
S5 Kneeland Street, Boston. 

Patrick Kehoe, 

Practical Horseshoer^ 

I 221 Dorchester Avenue, 
Dorchester. 

Near Glover's Comer. 



Millinery. 

Special care given to order work. 

M. C. COBB, 

A. C. MERRILL, 

149 A Tremont Street, Boston. 
Room 12. 

WARREN 
REAL ESTATE EXCHANGE, 

1514 Dorchester Ave., near Park St. 
Telephone, 2 Dorchester. 

Real Estate, Mortgages. 
Fire, Life, and Accident Insurance. 

John H. Warren, Manager. 

H. B. ROBINSON, 
HAY, GRAIN, AND STRAW. 

POULTRY FOOD, 
MINERAL SALT. 

Adams and Park Streets, Dorchester. 

TELEPHONE. 

WILLIAM P. MURPHY, 

WRAPPING PAPER, BAGS, AND 
TWINE, 

14 DuNMORE Street, . . . Roxbury, Mass. 

TELEPHONE, 268-2 ROXBURY. 



The Dorchester Book 



Waterman's 
Ideal 
Fountain 
Pen 

Always gives Perfect Satisfaction. 

Malces an ideal 

GIFT 
and an acceptable 
PRESENT. 
Choice Assortment I 

Latest Designs ! 

ALL DEALERS, 

OR WRITE FOR CATALOGUE. 

L. E. Waterman Co., 

L.irgcst Kountain Fen M.inutacturers in the World. 

Nos. 155 .•\ND 157 Bro.adw.4y, 

New York, N.Y. 



RESERVED 



Albert Fellows, 

GROCER AND 
TEA DEALER. 

AGENT FOR 

NoBscoT Mt. Spring Water. 

Full assortment of 

Preserves, 

Pickles, and 

Olives. 

1872 Dorchester Ave., 
Ashmont, 
DORCHESTER, MASS. 

Telephone, Dorchester 54-2. 



Compliments of 

J. B. COLE & SON, 

UNDERTAKERS. 

South Boston and Dorchester. 



-.J^J-'i-'•>^- , ^^'-- ' 



Tb 



e 



DORCHESTER 

BOOK 




ILLUSTRATED 



BOSTON 

GEORGE H. ELLIS, PRINTER, 272 CONGRESS STREET 

1899 



F 



.JU 



PUBLISHED BV THE 



BRANCH ALLIANCE 



CHRIST CHURCH (UNITARIAN) 

DORCHESTER, MASS. 
1899 



CONTENTS, 



PAGE 



Dorchester's Principia William Dana Orcutt 5 

Around Dorchester Bay W. B. E. 10 

English Dorchester Edwin J. Lewis, Jr. 12 

Highways and Byways Mary C. Eddy 15 

The First Parish, Dorchester Virginia Holbrook 1 7 

A Wonderful Deliverance Benjamin A. Goodridge 22 

The Progress of Education in Dorchester . . . Richard C. Humphreys 24 

Some of our Churches 29 

The Everett House Edivard E. Hale, D.D. 31 

The Birthday of Dorchester 34 

Early Industries Elizabeth W. Hazard 36 

Dorchester Heights 40 

The Dorchester Women's Club Harriet E. Bean 42 

Lucy Stone Alice Stone Blackwell 44 

The Oldest Apple-trees 45 

Two or Three Clubs 46 

The Dorchester Symphony Colctta Ryan 4S 

The Dorchester Medical Club Samuel Croivell, M.D. 50 

Landmarks Edward W. McGlencn 5 1 

Institutions 56 

Dorchester Historical Society Charles Hodgdon 57 

Historical Sketch of Dorchester Seat 59 

Editorial 60 




DOCHESTER'S PRINCIPIA. 

S time goes on, and the long-honored name of Dorchester becomes more and 
more merged into the less distinguished epithet of "Wards i6, 20 and 24," 
it is well to pause for a moment and look backward, to recall the distinct 
individuality which raised the town to the proud position it held before the 
voracious municipality claimed it as a part of Greater Boston. The rapid growth of 
Dorchester has filled its limits with a new people, who have played, and are playing, their 
part well in the more recent development, but who have naturally been but slightly 
acquainted with the individual characteristics which not only made the town famous, 
but even extended its influence throughout the country. In establishing the first town 
government, and in founding the first free public school, supported by a direct tax upon 
the people, Dorchester earned its right to pre-eminence among the early settlements. 

We all remember the devout Christian who called attention to the divine foresight 
in providing that the greatest harbors and the largest rivers should be located near the 
most prominent cities. It was a lack of this foresight on the mortal side which pre- 
vented Dorchester from being the metropolis and Boston the suburb ; for Dorchester 
Bay proved inadequate to the commercial requirements of the early settlers, and a month 
after the landing a portion of the pioneers established themselves at Shawmut, as Boston 
was first called. Thus Dorchester, although the first settlement in what is now Suffolk 
County and the largest town in New England, contributed to the Shawmut settlement 
the nucleus from which grew the city which finally swallowed it up. In 1666 the town 
included all the territory of the present towns of Milton, Dedham, Dorchester Heights, 
Washington Village, Hyde Park, Canton, Stoughton, Sharon, Foxboro, and a part of 
Wrentham — a site thirty-five miles long, and running to within one hundred and sixty 
rods of the Rhode Island line. 

It is a severe portrait which the first two years of the colony present to us. The 
New England of two hundred and seventy years ago did not offer a kindly settlement to 
the brave emigrants who sought to break into its austerity. The ground had to be 
cleared before even the rude huts could be erected, the trees felled before a space could 
be found to plant the seeds necessary to prevent starvation. On the coast the settlers 
found nothing to break their desolation. Wet meadows and oozy creeks prevented them 
from going in one direction, while unfordable tide-water rivers interfered with their 
progress in another. Utterly ignorant of the character of the country, it is not strange 
that imagination added to the real terrors which surrounded them, and made them feel 
that safety was nowhere to be found. Added to this was the terror of rattlesnakes, with 
which the country swarmed, and of dangerous animals that prowled about by night. The 
Indians, too, whose disposition toward the white men was entirely unknown, were a 
source of anxiety night and day. 

Fortunately, we have had preserved to us a record of some of these trying days, and 
to read Captain Clap's " Memoirs " is to realize most fully the cause of Dorchester's 
prominence. "Pietate, Uteris, industria," the motto now found upon the town seal, truly 
expresses the dominant virtues of those early settlers. 



6 The Dorchester Book 

Captain Clap writes: "Oh ye Hunger that many suffered, and saw no hope in an 
Eye of Reason to be supplyed, only by Clams, & Muscles, and Fish ; and Bread was so 
very Scarce, that sometimes ye very crusts of my Father's Table would have been very 
Sweet unto me : And when I could have Meal & Water & Salt, boiled together, it was so 
good, who could wish better ? And it was not accounted a strange thing in those Days 
to Drink water, and to eat Samp or Honmie without Butter or Milk. Indeed it would 
have been a strange thing to see a piece of Roast Beef, Mutton or Veal ; tho' it was not 
long before there was roast Goat." * 

Again Captain Clap says : "And in those days, in our Straits, though I cannot say 
God sent a Raven to feed us, as He did the Prophet Elijah, yet this I can say to the 
Praise of God's Glory, that He sent not only poor, ravenous Indians, which came with 
their Baskets of Corn, on their Backs to trade with us, which was a good Supply unto 
many ; but also sent Ships from Holland and from Ireland with Provisions, and Indian 
Corn from Virginia, to supply the Wants of his dear Servants in this Wilderness, both 
for Food and Rayment." f 

It would not have been remarkable if these unexpected privations had made some 
of the colonists wonder if they had improved their lot ; but Captain Clap again writes : 
" I do not remember that ever I did wish in my Heart that I had not come into this 
Country, or wish myself back again to my Father's House : Yea I was so far from that, 
that I wished and advised some of my dear Brethren to come hither also ; which accord- 
ingly one of my Brothers and those two that married my two Sisters, sold their Means 
and came thither." % 

In spite of this suffering the minds of the early fathers were ever turned from the 
physical to the intellectual and the spiritual necessities. So it was that during the third 
year of the colony the need of municipal organization became apparent, and the first 
special town government in New England was established. This important order is 
dated Oct. 8, 1633, and reads as follows: — 

"Imprimis it is ordered that. For the general! good and well ordering of the affayres 
of the Plantation their shall be every Mooneday before the Court by eight of the Clocke 
in the morning, and p''sently upon the beating of the drum, a general! meeting of the 
inhabitants of the Plantation att the meeteing-house, there to settle (and sett downe) such 
orders as may tend to the generall good as aforesayd : and every man to be bound thereby 
without gaynesaying or resistance. It is also agreed that there shall be twelve men 
selected out of the Company that may or the greatest p't of them meete as aforesayd to 
determine as aforesayd, yet so as is desired that the most of the Plantation will keepe the 
meeteing constantly and all that are there although none of the Twelve shall have a free 
voyce, as any of the 12 and that the greate[r] vote both of the 12 and the other shall be 
of force and efficasy as aforesayd. And it is likewise ordered that all things concluded as 
aforesayd shall stand in force and be obeyed untill the next monethly meeteing, and after- 
wardes if it be not contradicted and other wise ordered upon the sayd monethly meete[ing] 
by the greatest p'te of those that are p'sent as aforesayd." § 

It is not definitely known by what method the lands were distributed among the first 
settlers of the town, but it is probable that the private means and the size of the families 

* Blake's Annals of the Town of Dorchester, p. ii (1846). t Memoirs of Captain Roger Clap, p. 30 (1846). 

X Ibid., p. 20 (1846). § Dorchester Town Records, p. 3 (1879). 



Dorchester's Principia 7 

were taken into consideration. Several of the largest land-holders were those who held 
stock in England under the patent. Each stockholder to the amount of ^^50 was en- 
titled to an immediate dividend of two hundred acres, a " home lot " in America, and fifty 
acres for each member of his family. Those who did not possess stock could claim fifty 
acres for the head of the family, and as much more as the governor and council might 
award. Fifty acres were to be given to the master for every servant transported to this 
colony. 

Before sailing for America, the colonists had determined that for purposes of mutual 
protection they must build closely together ; and this decision was wisely adhered to. A 
certain amount of territory was laid out into four, six, and eight acre house lots ; and larger 
grants were made elsewhere for farming purposes. This arrangement kept the inhabi- 
tants closely together, and gave a road around several comparatively small pieces of land. 
Care was taken to keep the right of way to the sea and to the marshes, so that hay could 
be easily obtained. 

When the government was fairly established, the next thought was for the school. 
With the present wonderful educational system, it is hard to realize that there was a time 
when the free * public school was unknown, and harder still to realize that this thought 
should have emanated from those whom we are accustomed to regard as the representa- 
tives of bigotry and narrowness. The record of this has now become history, and is of 
especial interest. 

Thompson's Island, still known by the same appellation, was granted to Dorchester 
by the General Court in 1635 ; and four years later the town voted to lay a tax of ^20 
upon the proprietors of this island "for the maintenance of a school in Dorchester." 
Those who paid rent numbered one hundred and twenty persons, including the principal 
part of the adult male population. This, as far as can be ascertained, was the first public 
provision made for a free school in America, by a direct tax, or assessment, on the inhabi- 
tants of the town. The law itself is found in the Dorchester Town Records, under the 
date of May 20, (O. S.) 1639: — 

" There shalbe a rent of 20'' yeerely foreu' imposed vpon Tomsons Hand to bee payd 
p euy p'son that hath p'prtie in the said Hand according to the p'portion that any such 
p'son shall fro tyme to tyme inioy and posesse there, and this towards the mayntenance 
of a schoole in Dorchest' this rent of 20'' yeerly to bee payd to such a schoolemaster as 
shall undertake to teach english latin and othe"' tongues, and also writing the sayd school- 
maste to bee chosen fro tyme to tyme by the freemen and that is left to the discretion of 
elders and the 7 men for the tyme beeing whether maydes shalbe taught with the boyes 
or not. For the levying this 20'' yeerely fro the p'ticuler p'sons that ought to pay that 
according to this order. It is farther ordered that somme man shalbe apoynted by the 7 
men for the tyme beeing to Receiue that and refusall to levye that by distresse, and not 
fynding distresse such p'son as so refuseth payment shall forfeit the land he hath in 
p'prietie in the sayd Island." 

The first school-house was situated on what has been known as " Settlers' Street," 
near the corner of the present Pleasant and Cottage Streets, and consisted of a single 
room formed by four walls poorly constructed, and a roof which barely did its duty. It 

•The use of the word "free" as applied to the first pubHc school is apt to be misleading. "A free school" in the early days was not an 
institution in which the pupils were exempted from paying tuition, but one which was free to all classes. 



8 The Dorchester Book 

was natural that controversy should have arisen as to the fitness of the building ; but 
it was used until 1694, when steps were taken to provide more suitable accommodations. 
A contract was made with one John Trescot to build a house twenty feet long and 
nineteen feet wide, with a ground floor and a chamber above, a flight of stairs and a 
chimney. The contract required the building to be boarded and clapboarded ; to be 
filled up between the studs ; to be fully covered with boards and shingles ; and to be 
completed before Sept. 29, 1694. As a recompense for his work, Trescot was to 
receive the glass, lock and key, hooks and hinges of the old school-house, and £,22. in 
current New England money. 

The early settlers took great personal interest and pride in their schools, and gave 
liberally to its support. The earliest gift was a legacy from John Clap in 1655. This 
land, situated at South Boston Point, was sold in 1835 for ^13,590.62.* Another be- 
quest, made by Christopher Gibson in 1674, now amounts to more than twenty thousand 
dollars, yielding a yearly income of $1,400; and much of the land is still held in trust for 
the benefit of the schools. The sum of £,\'^o which Lieutenant Governor Stoughton 
contributed toward the support of the schoolmaster has now grown to be more than 
five thousand dollars. John Gomel, Hopestill Foster, and Governor James Bovvdoin 
also contributed to the support of the school. 

A comparison of the religious history of the early settlers of Massachusetts with their 
civil records shows that the two are almost identical. The church was the corner-stone 
of the community, and in it all other interests centred. The first act of the Dorchester 
company about to set sail on the "Mary and John" from Old Plymouth had been to 
associate themselves into church fellowship ; and the prominent place given to religion 
at this early date is long manifested in the lives of the people. 

For several years after the settlement of the Plantation the business affairs appear 
to have been largely in the hands of the ministers and two deacons of the church, who, 
together, made all deeds of land. The church decreed it unlawful to build a house more 
than half a mile from the " meeting-house." It regulated the style of dress ; it examined 
into and restricted even the private life of the people ; in short, as a writer has said, 
"the church was the government, and religion was the law." This authority which 
the church assumed was democratic rather than ecclesiastical. The people were free 
and independent, and they voluntarily placed the church in command because they 
believed that religion was the chief concern of life. 

The first meeting-house was built in 163 1, and was situated near the corner of 
Pleasant and East Cottage Streets, on Allen's Plain, at the north end of the town. It 
was a low building, consisting of one story about twelve feet in height, and was con- 
structed of logs and thatch. Palisadoes surrounded it, and military stores were deposited 
in it. Guns were mounted on the roof, and a sentinel kept on guard, so that it served 
as a place of refuge and defence against the Indians. The first day of the week the 
colony held its meetings as a church, and the second day of the week as a town. The 
inhabitants conveyed thither their plate and most valuable articles every evening, to be 
preserved with safety. 

The church life of those early days and even well into the present century was in 
distinct contrast with the modern comforts of Sunday worship. In the early colonial 

** Suffolk Deeds, lib. 39a, fol. 170. 



Dorchester's Principia 9 

days, for instance, the churches had no stoves ; and the pious worshippers were com- 
pelled to sit through these long services with nothing more comfortable than foot- 
warmers, which were brought from home. In the First Parish as late as 1820 these 
foot-warmers were given into the charge of " Uncle Daniel " Davenport, the sexton. 
It was a familiar sight for many years to see Uncle Daniel and his son enter the church 
on Sunday mornings and distribute the foot-warmers in the various pews. Judge Sewall 
records in his diary instances when the congregation must have suffered greatly from 
the frigid atmosphere. " The communion-bread was frozen pretty hard," he says, "and 
rattled sadly into the plates." Again he writes: "Extraordinary cold storm of wind and 
snow. Bread frozen at the Lord's table, yet was very comfortable at meeting." He 
refers to an exceedingly cold Sunday, when there was "great coughing" in meeting, in 
spite of which a new-born baby was brought into the icy church to be baptized, — it 
being the custom to carry the children to the meeting-house for baptism the first Sun- 
day after they were born. He also alludes to the baptism of his own fourteen children, 
not one of whom cried out even in the coldest weather, being "true examples of Puritan 
fortitude." 

In the space at the disposal of the writer, it has been impossible to give more than 
the barest outlines of the fortitude, the foresight, and the strength of character which 
the founders of the town possessed. Their determination to establish the settlement 
upon a foundation of rock bore its fruit throughout succeeding centuries, and the part 
played by their descendants has ever been a creditable one. Foremost in establishing 
their town government, in anticipation of the other settlements in providing for the 
educational needs of their children, and steadfast always in their loyalty to the church, 
the early fathers bequeathed the same characteristics to their successors ; and we find 
these in evidence throughout the history of the town. We can but briefly touch on the 
early colonial struggles of the first settlers. We cannot follow their descendants as they 
assisted in throwing off the yoke of oppression, and enjoyed the sweets of liberty. We 
cannot touch on the creditable position taken by the town in the War of the Rebellion. 
We can only glance in on our ancestors, in their primitive school and meeting-house : 
we cannot examine into the gradual changes which have given their children more en- 
lightenment and greater opportunities, nor study the history and the romance which 
have become associated with the ancient structures which served as landmarks for so 
many years ; and, finally, we cannot study the more recent events which would show us 
the town as it exists to-day. But perhaps from what has been recorded the great lesson 
of the past may be learned and appreciated, inspiring the present inhabitants to be even 
better citizens because of the principles of which they stand as representatives. 

William Dana Orcutt. 



AROUND DORCHESTER BAY. 




It was a picturesque scene that the eyes of the first Dorchestrians 
rested upon when their little vessel dropped anchor at the mouth of 
the Neponset River in 1630. Could these early settlers return to 
earth in this latter part of the nineteenth century, it is doubtful if 
they would recognize the shores to which civilization has brought such 
marked changes. 

It is equally difficult for us, to whom these changes have come 
so gradually, to imagine the graceful lines of these primeval shores 
before railroads and highways had been built to mar the picturesque 
effect. Then the winding Neponset could be followed uninterrupted 
by bridges to the foot of the Blue Hills, its banks being inhabited by a 
tribe of Indians from whom the river takes its name. Savin Hill must 
have stood out like a bold, dark promontory surrounded by marshes, 
reaching well into the centre of the present populated district. Squan- 
tum, across the bay, also stood out in bold relief, the dark foliage of 
the savin-trees and cedars making a strong contrast to the delicate 
greens of the surrounding marshes. But to-day how changed all these features appear ! 
The curving outlines are marred or destroyed. Here a bridge, a roadway, or a wharf, 
there a row of bath-houses, a gas plant, and a pumping-station. All of these are neces- 
sities to the growing population, but from an artistic standpoint must be deplored. 

On entering Dorchester Bay from Boston Harbor, one leaves Thompson's Island on 
the left. This beautiful spot, here and there adorned by a clump of trees, is used as a farm 
school for orphan lads. On rounding the island, we next see Squantum Head, on the 
extreme end of which we discover the profile known as the Squaw's Head. There is 
a legend about a beautiful Indian woman who, being disap- 
pointed in love, sprang from this rock into the sea. Such legends, 
however, abound among the ancient haunts of the red men, fre- 
quently with little of truth on which to base them. Near this 
rock a tower of stone has recently been reared by the Daughters 
of the Revolution to commemorate the landing of Myles Stan- 
dish, which was supposed to have been on this headland. It was here that "Billy" 
Read kept his tavern, known as the Old Squantum House, where famous fish dinners 
were served some thirty years ago. Recently this idea has been revived by the build- 
ing of Squantum Inn, which is drawing a goodly number of guests during the summer 
months. 

For many years two great industries occupied Commercial Point, wliich, located as it 
was near the deep channel of the Neponset River, offered unusual opportunities for ship- 
ping. Dearborn's Iron Foundry turned out shafts for the largest steamboats, and 
wrought other heavy iron-work, which was shipped to various points along the coast. 
Preston's chocolate factory occupied the other side of this point, and was for years the 
leading manufactory of its kind in the State. 




Around Dorchester Bay 



II 




Dorchester was one of the first ports on the coast to recognize yachting as a sport ; 
and as early as 1865 there were three pleasure yachts anchored off Harrison Square, 
owned respectively by Henry Hilt, Rufus Gibbs, and Skipper Innes. These were fol- 
lowed soon after by more pretentious craft, among them the sloop " Scud," which a few 
years later was lost off Minot's Light, the owner and two friends losing their lives. In 
1866 the Dorchester Yacht Club was formed by leading citizens; and among its founders 
were the well-remembered names of Freeman, 
Boynton, Davenport, Drake, Barnard, Weston, 
and many others. How this yacht club moved 
into Boston and changed its name to Massa- 
chusetts, and later amalgamated with the Hull 
Club, is too recent history to be more than 
mentioned here. The old name was immediately 
taken by a new organization, many of the older members joining the new club with 
the old name rather than give up the club-house they had used so long. 

To-day this little bay is crowded with pleasure boats of all kinds, and yacht clubs 
have sprung up in every locality ; but few of the old-timers are left who remember the 
infancy of a sport which has now become a national one. Once in about ten years the 
entire bay is frozen into a solid mass of ice, the most remarkable year in the remem- 
brance of the present generation being 1875. On the 22d of February in that year 
hundreds of sleighs and thousands of pedestrians and skaters crossed from South Boston 
to Squantum. Ice-boat races were inaugurated, and the scene appeared more like a great 
lake than an arm of the ocean. 

Cow Pasture, or Calf Pasture, as it was sometimes called, and Belzer's Marshes were 

formerly famous gunning grounds, marsh birds stopping there in their annual flights, 

while ducks of all kinds were shot each fall in various parts of the bay. In the early days 

fishing was carried on extensively from these shores, cod and mackerel being caught 

within easy sailing distance, and even as late as 1850 bluefish were abundant at the 

mouth of the Neponset River. Now, with the exception of the smelts, which are much 

sought for by pleasure fishermen, there are no fish in the bay, and the Friday dinners of 

the good people of Dorchester have to be brought from far-off waters. 

w. B. E. 





THE ENGLISH DORCHESTER. 

MONG the good people who made the first settlement in what is now Suffolk 
County " were some of Dorset Shire and some of ye Town of Dorchester." 
What more natural than that they should select for their new home in 
this New World a name which had been so dear to them beyond the seas, 
and which was still the home of the beloved John White, — the name Dorchester ? 

Old English Dorchester, which was thus honored, is the county town of Dorsetshire, 
one of the southernmost counties of England, bordering on the English Channel. It is a 
place of great antiquity, so old, indeed, that its earliest history still affords abundant 
scope for speculation on the part of the archaeologist. 

Without entering into antiquarian research, we may safely conclude from the exten- 
sive fortified works in the neighborhood, the quantity of Celtic and Roman remains con- 
stantly being unearthed, and the numberless burial-mounds scattered over the surround- 
ing hills and downs, that the district was an important centre of population as far back as 
the beginning of the Christian era, and probably at an even earlier period. 

Our first real glimpse of authentic history conies with the Roman invasion, some- 
where about the year 50 b.c, when Vespasian, having overcome the determined resist- 
ance of the sturdy Durotrieges, who inhabited the region, established here on the site of 
the present Dorchester a strong military station, which was named Durnovaria. 

The Roman town was encompassed by a wall twelve feet high and twelve feet thick, 
enclosing an area of eighty acres, about twice the extent of Boston Common. A small 
fragment of this wall still remains ; but the larger part of it was levelled early in the 
present century, and in its place were built broad walks, shaded with magnificent elms, 
sycamores, and chestnuts. 

The Roman occupation lasted about four hundred years. Abundant evidences of it 
are found in the tessellated pavements, coins, statuettes, and other relics frequently dug 
up. The most impressive memorial of the Roman occupation, however, is the great 
amphitheatre situated hardly a stone's throw from the town, and locally known as the 
Maumbury Rings. This amphitheatre is the finest of its kind in England, and probably 
dates from the time of Agricola. It consists of a gigantic oval, one hundred and forty 
feet in diameter the shortest way, and two hundred and twenty feet the longest inside 
measurement, surrounded by a grass-covered mound some thirty feet in height and ten 
feet wide at the top. Standing on this velvety parapet, the visitor of to-day can dimly 
trace the outlines of the tiers of seats rising gradually one above another, and capable 
of seating thirteen thousand spectators. He can also discern the probable location of 
the cavece, or vaults, for the gladiators and wild beasts. Standing there, it is not difficult 
to repeople in imagination this now deserted enclosure, and to recall the tragic scenes 
which these grass-grown slopes must have witnessed, not only in the splendid Roman 
days, but in comparatively modern times, when thousands have looked down from this 
vantage-ground upon sights scarcely less revolting. In the arena for many years stood 
the gallows, and in this place men and women have been strangled and burnt. 




iANrU-!AH:' t QTTA'^e: 



The English Dorchester 13 

During the constant warfare of the Saxon-Danish period, Dorchester met with dis- 
asters both frequent and terrible; and in 1003 it was besieged, burnt, and almost 
completely destroyed by Sweyn, King of Denmark. 

Its mediaeval history is of little interest. For several centuries after the Roman 
conquest we hear little of the town, except that it continued to be a place of considerable 
importance, and a favorite hunting-ground for many of the Norman kings. 

During the reign of Elizabeth many Papists suffered martyrdom here, the persecu- 
tion lasting for more than fifty years. 

The plague, visiting Dorchester in 1595, spread death and desolation among the 
people, and carried off so many that there were not left alive sufficient to bury the dead. 
As if to prove that misfortunes never come singly, before the town had fully recovered 
from this affliction, a great fire destroyed the churches of Holy Trinity and All Saints, 
together with nearly two hundred houses. Since that time three other conflagrations 
have worked havoc in the place. 

During the Civil Wars, Dorchester was loyal to the Parliament, and was strongly 
fortified. The town was, however, finally surrendered to the Earl of Carnarvon, who led 
the king's troops. It was then dismantled of its defences, and occupied in turn by 
Roundheads and Cavaliers ; but until the close of the conflict it remained a hot-bed of 
rebellion and a stanch adherent to the cause of Cromwell. 

One of the most revolting incidents in the history of Dorchester was the horrible 
butchery of which it was the witness during the " Bloody Assize" held here by the in- 
famous Judge Jeffreys on the unhappy people implicated in the Monmouth Rebellion. 
Macaulay tells us that " the court was hung . . . with scarlet, and this innovation 
seemed to the multitude to indicate a bloody purpose. It was also rumored that, when 
the clergyman, who had preached the Assize sermon, enforced the duty of mercy, the 
ferocious mouth of the judge was disturbed by an ominous grin. These things made men 
augur ill of what was to follow. More than three hundred prisoners were to be tried. 
The work seemed heavy, but Jeffreys had a contrivance for making it light. He let it 
be understood that the only chance of obtaining pardon or respite was to plead guilty. 
Twenty-nine persons who put themselves on their country, and were convicted, were 
ordered to be tied up without delay. The remaining prisoners pleaded guilty by scores. 
Two hundred and ninety-two received sentence of death. The whole number hanged in 
Dorsetshire was seventy-four." The judge's chair is to be seen in the Town Hall to this 
day. His lodging still stands in High West Street. 

The later history of Dorchester has not been especially eventful ; and, with this brief 
review of the past, let us glance for a moment at the Dorchester of to-day. 

A stranger visiting the town for the first time is impressed by three things, — its 
picturesque situation, its cleanliness, and its air of prosperity. Pleasantly located on 
rising ground, the town is bordered on the north by a branch of the river Frome, and on 
the other three sides by the beautiful shaded avenues, or " walks," already referred to, — a 
feature which no other town in England possesses to an equal extent. The trees are 
planted quite closely together, and have now attained such great size that their branches, 
interlacing overhead, form a perfect canopy, through which the midsummer sun can 
scarcely penetrate. Comfortable seats are provided at intervals, and on summer after- 
noons and evenings the walks are a favorite promenade for the townspeople. These, 
however, are not the only places provided for out-of-doors recreation. 



14 The Dorchester Book 

The Dorchester Borough Gardens maintained by the town remind the Bostonian of 
our own Public Garden, which they closely resemble both in area and general arrange- 
ment. In addition to the flowers, fountains, and shady paths, the authorities have 
here provided a number of tennis courts. The Town Council provides the nets, and 
keeps the courts in perfect order. The payment of si.x cents entitles any person to the 
use of them. 

Instead of the familiar warning, " Keep off the grass," one is confronted by a polite 
request, " Please do not walk on the grass." The latter seems to be quite as effective, and 
sounds far less inhospitable. 

Whether due to these opportunities for outdoor exercise or on account of the pure 
and bracing air, the town has certainly earned for itself an enviable reputation for health- 
fulness. Dr. Arbuthnot, who in his early days came to settle here, did not stay long. 
He said, "A physician can neither live nor die at Dorchester." 

In the olden days Dorchester was noted for her cloth ; but Leeds, Birmingham, and 
other North of England communities have robbed her of this industry, and she now relies 
for revenue principally upon agriculture and the great flocks of sheep which find abundant 
sustenance upon the neighboring downs. It is estimated that there are nearly a million 
of these woolly units of wealth in the vicinity. The praise of Dorset ale has been sounded 
in prose and verse. It, too, is made in Dorchester. 

In view of its turbulent history and the numerous fiery ordeals through which the 
town has passed, it is not surprising that few buildings now remain which can lay claim to 
age. In fact, there are but two of importance, — St. Peter's Church and Judge Jeffreys's 
lodgings. 

St. Peter's, which stands at the junction of the four principal streets, is a fine old 
parish church of the Perpendicular period. Its stately tower contains a splendid peal of 
eight bells as well as a clock and chimes. The old custom of tolling the curfew is still 
observed here. 

Three ancient almshouses, the most recent dating from 1615, still shelter the aged 
and the needy. These are but a few of many objects of interest in the town itself ; while 
the country roundabout is dotted over with numberless relics of the past, which would 
well repay a visit. 

Dorchester is but one hundred and thirty-eight miles distant from London, and is 
easily reached by either the Great Western or South-western Railway. If this brief 
article should encourage any summer pilgrim to tarry for a little in old Dorchester, he will 
be sure of a cordial welcome. The hospitable doors of the " King's Arms " stand open to 
receive him, as they have welcomed so many others during the past century and a half ; 
and, as the traveller goes on his way, he may well wonder if Dr. Johnson had in mind 
this comfortable old house, when he wrote, " There is nothing which has yet been con- 
trived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern, or inn." 

Edwin J. Lewis, Jr. 



HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 




jHE dear old lady was in good spirits and full of interesting recollections of the 
old days in Dorchester : — 

" My grandfather used to say that all roads led to the meeting-house. 
I wish they did, bat am sorry to say they do not now. The first road out 
here in Dorchester ran from the meeting-house to Rocky Hill (now Savin Hill). In my 
time it was Old Hill, This road kept on through what is now Savin Hill Avenue. An- 
other began at the same place, ran west to Five Corners, east to Calves' Pasture (now 
Pond Street and Crescent Avenue). This road ran on from Five Corners north-easterly 
toward Great Neck (South Boston). This road lay along Little Neck (Boston Street). 
It had a gate at its entrance ; and every morning, for seven months in the year, the cows 
of Dorchester Plantation were driven by this road to pasture. An hour after sunrise a 
horn was blown, calling the cows together ; and woe to the cow that was not on hand ! 
She got no pasturage that day, and likely enough her owner was fined. 

" There used to be a street that curved around by the house of William T. An- 
drews, called Chestnut Street,* I think ; but it must have got lost, for it is not there now. 
The Rev. Richard Mather, Roger Williams, and others lived on it. The road around 
Jones's Hill is now Stoughton, Pleasant, and Hancock Streets ; and from there a road led 
to Israel Stoughton's mill. It is now Adams Street, and runs to Quincy. A lane led from 
this road to Penny Ferry, where they used to cross the Neponset to Quincy. It is Marsh 
Street now. 

" The short street called Houghton Street is all that is left now of the old road to 
the Plymouth Colony. This ran around Pope's Hill, crossed what is now Neponset Ave- 
nue, and was finally merged into the straight turnpike. I wish we had kept the old 
names ; for Old Hill means more to me 
than Savin Hill, the name given to it 
away back in 1822, from the savins on 
its top. It was Rocky Hill for the first 
hundred years of the Old Colony, and 
the first fort to defend our harbor was 
built here. 

"The southerly part of Harrison 
Square bore the name ' Captain's Neck, 
or ' Hawkins Neck,' in honor of Captain 
Hawkins, a large land-holder, ship-builder, and navigator. A small stream that crosses 
what is now Columbia Street was named for him, also. The right of way which was laid 
out to the wharf on Wales Creek ' for the use and benefit of the town ' is now Creek 
Street. Port Norfolk, in Old Colony times, was called Pine Neck ; and that makes me 
think of the terrible time the people there had, when they disagreed about the name. 
Some wanted it called Neponset, the old name, which includes Dorchester Lower Mills ; 




•Discontinued in 1853. 




7 




i6 The Dorchester Book 

and others wanted it Port Norfolk. Such a time as there was ! The two factions almost 
came to blows. It was several months before the hatchet was buried and peace declared. 
In the end both names were used, — Port Norfolk for the point and Neponset for the 
village. 

" Ludlow's Neck extended from the Roxbury line to Codman Hill, and must have 
been named for the crusty and tempery Roger Ludlow, who offended the freemen of Bos- 
ton, moved out to Dorchester, and built a house at Old Hill. Cook's Hill was long ago 

cut down. I remember the immense amount of money 
Zebedee Cook spent in trying to sink an artesian well to 
water his gardens. 
MiLe? t» Bofton, ^//i "Everybody knows of Codman, Jones, and Meeting- 

Tovn.l-jpufe.. % fi house Hills, for they are of the new generation as well as 

^TiH iM'i It '•^^ ^^^ ' ^^^ ^'^ y°" ^^^^ yi&3ir of Purgatory Swamp, between 

H ^MlllfM/ Neponset River and the Dedham line, of Mother Brook, the 

old way between Dorchester and Dedham, and the way of 
|iii\M)'f'i% the first canal built in this country ? Do you know about 
fi'^W":/ Pow-wow Point, between Little Neck and Great Neck (Wash- 
'• ^tjtii^'h'H ington Village and South Boston), Common, Bear, and Dead 
,\UV-'m|'i // Swamps, where the colonists used to cut timber, and Indian 
Hill over Milton way ? 
" Well, I might go on forever ; for every foot of land in this old town is dear to me and 
full of interest to any one who will read the records. I think of the friends and neighbors 
of my youth when I hear of Field's Corner, Glover's Corner, Upham's Corner. Then 
there was the Upper Road (Washington Street) and the Lower Road (Adams Street), 
the Four Corners (where Harvard, Bowdoin, and Washington Streets meet). In my 
younger days it was not Mt. Bowdoin, but Bowdoin Hill, where the rich Governor Bow- 
doin lived in such elegance. 

" Of course there were many names given by the neighbors that were very signifi- 
cant. The eastern slope of Meeting-house Hill must have been very wicked to earn 
the name of Sodom. Centre Street was called ' Old Maid Lane,' because of the many 
unplucked buds who had homes there. Rum Plain was somewhere near Cedar Grove. 
Why it was called so I have forgotten, but you and I can easily imagine. But why 
Cracker Hollow was so called I cannot even guess. Tinean, not Tenean as it is called 
now, was named from an East Indian island, when we had ships in that trade. 

" Are you tired ? I should think you would be ; but I never weary of talking about 
the old times, and will run on as long as any one will listen. The old days and the old 
ways ! Dorchester kept the good old customs longer than any of its neighboring towns. 
It was the last to give up candles, open fires, foot-stoves, warming-pans, and going to bed 
at nine o'clock. I know of one young woman who was born here, and never went 
to Boston until she was married. What do you think of that .' 

" Must you go, indeed .' Well, come again ; and, if I can think of more about the 
old times, I will give you another chapter." 

And so I went home through the gathering dusk, meeting shadowy forms of the 
good men and good wives of old Dorchester all along the way, and almost wishing the 

slow, simple, " good old times " back again. 

Mary C. Eddy. 



THE FIRST PARISH, DORCHESTER, 




ELIGION, in Old England, was regulated by government. In New England, 
religion regulated government. The English Church, like the English gov- 
ernment, was (and is) an aristocracy. Democracy was a ruling principle of 
Puritanism. Thus the keynote of our government was struck when the 
Pilgrims and Puritans established in the New England wilderness their churches, which 
were literally "of the people, by the people, for the people." 

But that little band of a hundred and forty souls who gathered at Plymouth, England, 
for a day of solemn fasting and prayer, before putting out on the deep, had no conception 
of the future republic. Freedom to worship God was the anchorage they sailed toward. 
This first meeting of our church has been described by one of the passengers : " That 
worthy man of God, Mr. John White of Dorchester, in Dorset, was present and preached 
unto us the word of God, in the fore part of the day, and in the latter part of the day, as 
the people did solemnly make choice of and call those godly ministers to be their officers, 
so also the Rev. Mr. Warham and Mr. Maverick did accept thereof and expressed the 
same." It is worthy of note that reordination was not considered necessary, though both 
men, now thorough non-conformists, had been ordained by bishops of the English Church. 
This fact illustrates the breadth of view which from the outset has characterized this 
church, — the readiness to disregard the letter and to e.mphasize the spirit of religion. 
It was ready to believe with Robinson, the noble 
Leyden Puritan, " that the Lord had yet more 
truth to break forth from his holy word " ; and 
the church covenant of 1636 contained the clause, 
" so far as we do already know or shall further 
understand, out of God's holy word," — the terms 
under which members pledged their faith. 

So did these settlers of Dorchester install 
their first ministers, and enter their first meet- 
ing-house, — the stanch and strong ship, " Mary 
and John," which bore them " by the good hand 
of the Lord through the deeps comfortably." 
Roger Clap, from whose diary we have a brief 
account of the voyage, tells us that their min- 
isters " preached or expounded " the word of 
God every day for ten weeks together. 

The proposed destination of the "Mary and 
John " was the Charles River, which had been 
exploited some years before. Such, however, 
was the lack of exact knowledge of the Amer- 
ican coast that, when the vessel came to anchor, 
Sunday, May 30, 1630, after a seventy days' 




ThT 






hair 



1 8 The Dorchester Book 

passage, it was off Nantasket instead of in the Charles. Exploration of the immediate 
coast satisfied the passengers that a neighboring site, called Mattapan by the Indian 
inliabitants, was well suited to their needs ; and they forthwith led out to pasturage 
their famished cattle, and began to make their settlement. On Sunday, June 6 (the 
17th in our present calendar), they rested from their labors. It is this date which marks 
the foundation of the town and the First Church of Dorchester. The next week brought 
the " Arbella," with Governor Winthrop and the charter under which the colony was to 
be founded. During the month other vessels of the Winthrop fleet continued to arrive. 

These early settlers of Dorchester — "the many godly families," as Captain Roger 
Clap speaks of them, " men leaving gallant situations," " very precious men and 
women," by no means forgetful of their purpose of founding a State where God should 
be the supreme sovereign, and his word, the Bible, the chief statute book — still turned 
their hands first to the humbler tasks of hewing wood and carrying water. Log cabins 
sprang up, roads were made. It was not until the autumn of 163 1 that the first meeting- 
house was built. That its erection was delayed for a year is evidence of the extreme 
privations and hardships of those twelve months. The rude structure of logs and 
thatch was also a depot for military stores, and, so long as attack from the Indians threat- 
ened, was palisadoed and nightly guarded. Winthrop mentions that Mr. Maverick once 
accidentally set fire to a small barrel of powder, and that, consequently, the thatch of the 
new meeting-house was blackened a little. Town hall and place of worship in one, this 
meeting-house did service for the first fifteen years of the colony. Of the first ministers 
little is known. Mr. Maverick is styled by Johnson, a contemporary historian, " the godly 
Mr. Maverick " ; and Winthrop says of him, " He was a man of very humble spirit, faithful 
in furthering the work of the Lord here, both in church and civil State." A more aggres- 
sive and brilliant man was Mr. Warham. His views about church constitutions were 
independent. Preaching with notes is said to have been introduced into New England 
by him. He went with those members of the church who in 1635 removed to Windsor, 
Conn, (for "more room," it was said), and there lived as "a gracious servant of Christ " 
for thirty-four years. 

After the death of Mr. Maverick, Richard Mather was called in 1636 to a reorganized 
church, at whose head he remained for thirty-three years. In accordance with the custom 
of having two ministers, a pastor and a teacher, the Rev. Jonathan Burr became Mr. 
Mather's colleague. William Stoughton, too, though a layman, frequently assisted by 
preaching, — another instance of the liberality of opinion of the early church. Mr. Mather, 
who took so important a part in the pioneer years of the church, was of English birth and 
education. Though his parents were poor people, he had an exceptional education. 
Graduated at Oxford, he preached for sixteen years in the English Church, from which he 
was suspended for non-conformity. He fled from England in disguise, and finally reached 
New England, where he soon became a conspicuous figure in the civil and ecclesiastical 
affairs of Dorchester. He wrote many essays bearing on the questions of the times, and 
assisted in the compilation of the Bay Psalm Book. It is said of him that he was a man 
of great bodily strength, and a "very powerful, awakening, and zealous preacher." His 
death, in 1669, is thus simply recorded by the church : "The Rev. Richard Mather, teacher 
of the church of Dorchester, rested from his labours." Increase and Cotton Mather, his 
son and grandson, were both distinguished ministers in their day. 

A step toward relaxation of the extreme rigidity of church form was agitated 




P-^e/iUKcil. BUILT ih- io97 
) 










The First Parish, Dorchester i^ 

toward the close of Mr. Mather's ministry. It concerned the public confession of faith 
which was exacted of new members. In its place the new member was required merely 
to stand forth and acknowledge the confession which had been previously written down 
' in private. 

Church authority in these days was vigilant, severe, and far-reaching. Many details 
of living and conduct, now controlled by law or conscience, came within the church's 
jurisdiction. For example, J. L. had a misunderstanding with his wife, and was accused 
of maltreating her, which caused no little trouble to the church. After several meetings 
the matter was settled by his promising "to carry it more loving to her for time to 
come." 

J. B. was less amenable. He had been lying, and was also convicted of horse steal- 
ing. On his refusing to come before the church, he was disowned, and excommuni- 
cated, "though not delivered up to Satan, . . . and familiar society with him forbidden unto 
his relations, natural and civil, that he may be ashamed." 

J. M. came forth voluntarily, and acknowledged to his sin in being too much over- 
come with drinking on the day of Major Clark's funeral. 

The elders and "ancient" brethren were authorized to summon members in private; 
and, in case of non-compliance, public admonition was administered. One man of some 
distinction was called upon to give satisfaction for his "contemptuous carriage." "Others 
there were that should have been called forth, . . . but the time and season of cold [Janu- 
ary, in a cold meeting-house] would not permit." 

With the growth of the settlement the first primitive meeting-house, with its 
thatched roof and outside stairway, did not meet the needs of the people. It was there- 
fore agreed, " at the general meeting of the town, for peace and love's sake that there shall 
be a new meeting-house, built on Mr. Howard's land, in the most convenient place be- 
twixt Mr. Stoughton's garden and his barn." ;£25o was raised ; and the following year, 
1646, £40 was added for finishing, and "making the walls decent within and with- 
out." 

After Mr. Mather's death, Mr. Stoughton refused six urgent calls to become pastor. 
This distinguished man served his community and his country, however, in other offices 
than that in which his fellow-townsmen so earnestly desired to see him. He represented 
the colony in England, was chief justice of the Supreme Court, lieutenant governor, and 
commander-in-chief. The independence of his character is well set forth in his refusing 
to recant when his colleague. Judge Sewall, made public apology in the Old South 
Church for the share he took in persecuting the witches. Mr. Stoughton declared that 
he had no confession to make, for, though now of a different mind in regard to witchcraft, 
he had, at the time of the trial, acted in all sincerity. 

As Mr. Stoughton continued in his refusals, saying that "he had some objections 
within himself against the notion " of becoming minister, the Rev. Josiah Flint was 
finally installed as Mr. Mather's successor. In 1670 the church was moved to its present 
site on Meeting-house Hill, then known as Rocky Hill, where the school-house already 
stood. The duties of the sexton, who at this time was one Nathan Bradley, were to " ring 
the bell, cleanse the meeting-house, and to carry the water for baptism." While the bell 
stood on the hill, Mr. Bradley was to have " after £4 a year ; and after the bell is brought 
to the meeting-house £$ los." Mr. Flint's was the shortest ministry in the annals of the 
church. The first graduate of Harvard to fill this pulpit, his life and labors therein, ended 



20 The Dorchester Book 

by his death, are honored in his epitaph in the old burying-ground, — " the good scholar 
and earnest preacher and devoted pastor." 

The pastorate of John Danforth, which followed, lasted for forty-eight years, and is the 
longest the church has known. Mr. Danforth, at the age of twenty-one, became pastor 
in Dorchester, five years after his graduation from Harvard. " A young man of talent 
and grace " he is styled ; and his ministry, it is elsewhere testified, "was in great fidelity, 
and in the exercise of superior talents and graces." A quaint vote was passed toward 
the end of Mr. Danforth's ministry, which indicates that the good man had trials in 
common with " Sir Oracle," though, being " exceedingly charitable and of a very peaceful 
temper," he probably sought more graciously to remedy the evil : " Whereas of late, 
dogs have frequently come into our meeting-house on Sabbath days, and by their barking, 
quarrelling, etc., have made disturbance in the time of divine worship," etc. The vote 
ended by fixing a penalty upon the dogs' owners. 

The year 1740 was a memorable one on account of the coming of George Whitefield, 
whose preaching made more of a sensation in Massachusetts than that of any minister 
since its settlement. Thousands flocked to hear him. Dorchester, perhaps, was less 
influenced by his preaching than some of the other outlying towns, — even though, as 
tradition has it, when preaching on the Common, his voice could be heard on Jones's Hill. 
The fourth meeting-house was built in 1743. Its increase in size over former build- 
ings, as well as the increase of the community's wealth, is indicated by the 3,500 odd 
pounds devoted to its erection. 

In 1752, in the ministry of the Rev. John Bowman, the Scriptures were first read 
as part of public worship. 

Moses Everett preached "with great acceptance" until 1793, "when," says a notice 
of him, "the declining state of his health compelled him to relinquish an ofifice he was too 
feeble to fulfil and too conscientious to neglect." 

Of Thaddeus Mason Harris, whose ministry lasted forty-three years, his colleague 
and successor, Mr. Hall, says : " But there are others of you, for whose sakes I am glad 
to speak of him, though it must be so inadequately, — of his purity and refinement of 
mind ; his scholarly acquirements, gained by a life of reading and research ; his humble 
conscientiousness, his gentle and guileless and childlike spirit ; his quick and flowing 
sympathies." 

For almost two centuries the First Church was the only one in Dorchester. In 
1808, because the growing parish could no longer be contained in one church, the Second 
Church was organized. Originally one in doctrine with the present church, it later took 
its stand with the more orthodox churches ; yet the spirit of good will has always con- 
tinued, after the first difference, between these kindred parishes. 

The long ministry of Mr. Hall, 1835-75, is another signal record of faithful and 
inspired service. It is a source of regret to me that this tribute to his work and 
character is not written by one who knew him. But perhaps it is no less a token of the 
permanence of his spirit and influence that they make special appeal to one who has 
known him only as a figure of the past. His prompt and unswerving advocacy of 
abolition marks the soundness of his judgment and the fearlessness of his soul. His 
services in those days which tried men's souls, the reconstruction period, attest his clear 
insight and enduring courage. Such action, through which shone unfailingly the radiance 
of a lovable personality and an abounding sympathy, proves him no unworthy follower of 



The First Parish, Dorchester 



21 



the Puritan heroes. To this devoted pastor we owe much of our church's present 
vitality and prosperity. 

The Rev. Samuel J. Barrows was minister from 1876 to 1880, the Rev. Christopher 
R. Eliot then until 1893, when the Rev. Eugene R. Shippen was installed, the fourteenth 
minister of the First Parish. Of the destruction by fire of the sixth meeting-house, built 
in 1 8 16, and the erection of the present one, it is not necessary to speak. 

This beautiful building, like the apotheosis of former churches, standing on the same 
spot where for more than two centuries and a quarter a house of God has stood, sym- 
bolizes the same ideals that our forefathers braved the wilderness to maintain. And in it 
may their descendants long worship God in the beauty of holiness ! 

Virginia Holbrook. 








A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE. 

(The true account of a very remarkable event in the life of Mr. Hope Atherton, minister of Hatfield, 
sometime schoolmaster in Dorchester, as it happened to him when he was chaplain of Turner's men at the 
" Falls Fight," in King PhiHp's War.) 



Philip is dead, that bloody man, 

Who us hath sore distrest. 
From all such salvage foes as he 

May our good land have rest. 

Oh, what a woeful, woeful year 
This twelve month past hath been ! 

How heavily the Lord hath laid 
His hand upon our sin ! 

Our towns laid waste ; our bravest slain; 

Our women captive led; 
But now God's hand is lifting up 

His stricken people's head. 

From many lips thanksgivings rise 

For marvels He has done. 
Most cause of all to praise His name 

Have I, Hope Atherton. 



From Hatfield town rode Turner's men. 

One hundred and a score. 
We slacked not rein until we heard 

The plunging river roar. 

" Dismount ! dismount ! " the word went round. 

In silence did we creep 
To rearward of King Philip's men, 

And caught them in their sleep. 

Encamped along the river bank, 

Above the falls they lay. 
We roused them with the blast of doom, 

Just at the break of day. 

Dazed by our onset, they awoke ; 

In vain they sought to fly. 
The God of Israel gave us strength 

To smite them hip and thigh. 



They yelled with rage and mortal fear, 

They leaped into the flood. 
Like beasts of sacrifice they fell ; 

The ground steamed up with blood. 

Ah, me ! it was a fearful sight 

To see, when all was done. 
Three hundred Indians we had slain; 

Our loss was only one. 

Three hundred souls cut off in sin. 

Condemned to endless woes ! 
May God forgive me that I grieve 

At slaughter of His foes ! 

How pleasant seemed the springtime wood, 

Clothed in tender green. 
When we had turned our backs upon 

That cruel, bloody scene. 

In soberness and haste we went, 

With silent, careful tread ; 
For sounds were on the morning wind 

That filled our hearts with dread. 

Scarce half our men had got to horse, 
When bullets showered like rain. 

As a fresh horde of salvages 
Came pressing on amain. 

From rear and flank they shot us down 

I saw brave Turner fall. 
The Lord holp Captain Holyoke then, 

Or slain we had been all. 

More of the fight I cannot tell ; 

'Tis but a fearful dream. 
Of demon forms and frantic yells, 

And hell-fire's lurid gleam. 



A Wonderful Deliverance 



23 



Day passed, night came, I know not how ; 

I found myself alone. 
My horse had gone, with him my food, 

My pillow was a stone. 

Night passed, day came, I know not how ; 

I wandered on and on. 
A mist of blood before my eyes 

Rose ever and anon. 

Gone was all sense of time and place, 

My mind was far away 
Where peaceful, smiling Dorchester 

O'erlooks her goodly bay, 

Where once I ruled the village school 

With precept and with rod, 
To make the boys of Dorchester 

Love learning and fear God, 

Where Sabbath days I sat and heard 

The godly Mather preach, — 
Apples of gold in silver set 

Was his well-ordered speech, — 

Where oft I heard an inward voice 

Me solemnly exhort : 
" Make haste, proclaim my saving word, 

Your time is all too short." 

I cannot tell how many days 

Dragged out their weary length ; 

I know at last my dream was spent. 
And spent was all my strength. 

At set of sun I laid me down 

Beneath a towering pine ; 
I did not think to see again 

The day star rise and shine. 



But soon I heard the cautious tread 

Of many feet, and then 
There swiftly passed, through gathering dusk, 

A file of Indian men. 

Close by they made their hasty camp ; 

I saw them cook their fish. 
My eager nostrils never smelt 

So rare a dainty dish. 

Hope sprang again ; my strength came back. 

Better it seemed to die 
By torture of those painted fiends 

Than starve with food so nigh. 

So crying out, " I come in peace ! " 

Toward them I made my way. 
They stayed not for my near approach. 

But fled in sore dismay. 

" The white man's God ! the white man's God 1 " 

They shrieked as off they ran, 
Seeming to take my wasted frame 

For more than mortal man. 

But with the cause of their strange fright 

Not long I vexed my mind. 
I sat me down, and fed right well 

On what they left behind. 

That night I slept, rose up refreshed, 

And found the river shore ; 
Then followed down until I saw 

Dear Hatfield town once more. 

From fowler's snare God hath my life 

With great deliverance won. 
And never cease to praise His name 

Will I, Hope Atherton. 





Benjamin A. Goodridge. 




THE PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN DORCHESTER. 

^T is certainly very appropriate to have recorded in the " Dorchester Book " the 
generally accepted fact that in Dorchester was founded the first free public 
school in the world, supported by direct taxation or assessments on the inhab- 
itants of the town; also, that here the first school committee was created, 
that is, chosen by the voters and selected from among the people at large, to look after 
the interests of the school, in the same manner that school boards have ever since been 
established throughout the length and breadth of our land. How can we better trace the 
progress of education in Dorchester than by a comparison of her school buildings and 
the curriculum of the schools of the seventeenth century with the present day ? The first 
school-house, built in 1638-39, near the corner of Pleasant and Cottage Streets, was a frail 
structure, and remained many years in an unfinished state. In the year 1657 the town 
voted five shillings in money, and timber from the lot, that a floor be laid overhead, to be 
used as a study for the schoolmaster. It was nearly a hundred years after the first 
school-house was built before the town voted to appropriate £,\2 toward a school in the 
south part of the town, and not until 1776 was the third school started. 

I find in the diary of James Humphreys, who was born in 1753, the following descrip- 
tions of the first three school-houses on Meeting-house Hill : " The first School House 
stood near the Meeting House, it was of an oblong square, the end set against a rock that 
stands perpendicular, which said rock served as a back for to build the fire against. This 
rock is north of the Meeting House adjoining the road, the east side between Ralph 
Shepard's and William Swan's. When a schoolboy I have frequently seen by marks on 
the surface where the foundations of the two houses were." 

This spot can easily be recognized to-day, as part of the rock still remains between 
the estates of Robert Swan and Otis Shepard on Winter Street, opposite the estate of the 
late Hiram Shepard. I distinctly remember the perpendicular rock as it stood, extending 
so far out into Winter Street that it was difficult for teams to pass each other at that 

point. 

" The Second School House was built in 1694, by Joseph Trescott, it was twenty 
feet long, and nineteen feet wide, and cost £,2},. It stood opposite Mr. Joseph Leed's 
house, east of the road. It was a low building pitched roof four square, one seat to sit on 
made fast to three sides of the house. The place made to write and lay the books on, 
was on three sides likewise, at a proper distance, made so wide that another row of seats, 
that was made inside for the boys to sit on, sufficient to write or study, facing each other. 
A shelf was likewise made on three sides of the house to lay the books and papers on, so 
that the boys by stepping on the seat made to sit on, and where they write might have 
access to their books on the shelves. A large table and an arm chair was in the center. 
The chimney was on the west side toward the road. The wood laid on the fire four feet 
in length, and oftentimes in the winter smoke and cold enough. The door facing the 
south, the jams so large that it embraced the whole, save room for the entry door. The 
wood house leantoo fashion toward the road. The school was divided into three classes, 




MARY liE/nENUAY SCHOOL 



The Pfogfress of Education in Dorchester 25 

the lowest called the Psalter class, the second the Testament, the third the Bible class. 
The task of the latter to read about two chapters commencing and ending of school, spell 
the words, and write a copy or cypher. Girls not admitted save once in the fall of the 
year, the general catechising, by Rev. Mr. Bowman, then each one was to answer two 
questions in the Assembly Catechism, and excellent advise given them, and conclude with 
prayer. I went to this school about seven years, from 1759 to 1767, and saw no other 
English books except" the Assembly Catechism, till the two last years we had Dillworth's 
Spelling Book and Hadder's Arithmetic. My teachers were Noah Clap, James Baker, 
David Leeds, and William Bowman." This school-house stood near the William D. 
Swan house on Hancock Street, opposite the estate of the late William Hendry. 

" The third School House stood between this and the Parsonage House, which was 
afterwards moved over the hill, and is now a dwelling occupied by the widow of Ichabod 
Wiswall." 

This Ichabod was doubtless a descendant of the man of that name who was the 
school-teacher in 1657. 

What remains of the old school-house now stands on the south side of Freeport 
Street, a few rods from its junction with Pleasant Street. It has a brick basement and 
is occupied by Sebastian Cabot Peters. 

The progress of the education of women in Dorchester is shown in the fact that the 
deeds of real estate of the seventeenth century are signed by men of note, who, for those 
days, were highly educated. Yet the women, in many instances, signed them thus 
"her X mark," showing that they were not taught even to read or write. The eigh- 
teenth century had more than half elapsed before women were even allowed to be taught 
in the public schools. To-day the list of graduates from our public schools is very evenly 
divided between the boys and the girls. Any one who had the pleasure of listening to the 
original papers of the young lady graduates of the Dorchester High School last year must 
be convinced of the remarkable opportunities which are given to-day for the development 
of originality, refinement in rhetoric, and a broad and liberal education of the girls of 
Dorchester. In fact, there is hardly a branch of education in which the girls have not 
equal advantages with the boys ; and the list of Dorchester women who have graduated 
during the past few years from colleges, scientific and professional schools, some of them 
having obtained a high position in their profession, shows a marvellous progress in all 
branches of education. We have but to look at the long list of noted men who have 
graduated from our public schools, who have held some of the highest positions of trust 
and responsibility, some having stood at the head of their profession, to note the rapid 
growth of the opportunities for a liberal education, and to show that Dorchester has not 
been backward in improving all the advantages which modern methods in pedagogy have 
given. In the light of to-day this fact seems quite remarkable, that for more than a 
hundred years after the town of Dorchester on the 30th of May, 1639, voted to lay 
a tax on the proprietors of Thompson's Island for the maintenance of a public school in 
Dorchester, no other text-book was used but the Bible, and that the introduction of an 
arithmetic was witnessed by the grandparent of the writer. A single leaf of coarse paper, 
with the alphabet, the Lord's Prayer, and Richard Mather's Catechism, was used previous 
to the New England Primer in the "dame school." 

In 1645 the town voted, " It shall be the dutye of the Wardens to order and dispose 
of all things that concerne the schoole, in such sort as in their wisedome and discretion 



26 The Dorchester Book 

they shall Judge most Conducible for the Glory of God and the trayningup of the Children 
of the Towne in Religion, learning and Civilitie." 

To-day wc have free text-books for every conceivable branch of study and highly 
educated teachers who develop our children intellectually, morally, and physically. 

I have space to mention but iew of the noted men who lived and attended school in 
Dorchester : Edward Everett, who was born in the school district that bears his name ; 
Governor Stoughton, who left j^^iso to the Dorchester schools, with the condition that 
the salary of the schoolmaster should be fixed at ^^40 a year, which was a large increase 
on the amount then paid ; Christopher Gibson, the income of whose gift has given so 
many reference books and extras that would not otherwise have been provided, not least 
of all the base-ball ground which so many of our boys have enjoyed ; Daniel Webster, who, 
if he did not attend the schools, lived for a time on or near the spot where now stands the 
Henry L. Pierce School ; Dr. John Homans ; the Rev. Peter Thacher ; the Rev. Elijah 
Danforth ; the Hon. James Bowdoin, son of Governor Bowdoin, who gave sixty acres of 
land for the school fund; Elder James Blake; Humphrey Atherton ; Roger Williams ; 
Roger Clap, for whom the Roger Clap School-house was named and on whose farm 
the building was erected ; the Mather family ; Governors Hancock, Winthrop, Morton, 
Oliver, Bowdoin, Eustis, and Gardner. 

Among the teachers who taught in the Dorchester schools previous to 1800 I 
find forty-five men who were graduates of Harvard College. 

It is a remarkable and astonishing fact, which can be demonstrated by figures, that 
the number of college-bred men in Massachusetts is 50 per cent, less than it was in 
the eighteenth century. 

In 1 7 10 it was voted that each of the children should be provided by those who 
sent them with " two feet of wood or two shilling and sixpence money, to be delivered 
to the School Master within one month after the twenty-ninth of September, annually, 
or their children to have no privilege of the fire." Not till 1732 did the town provide 
wood for school-houses. Now the city puts one hundred tons of coal into a single 
building ; and the poorest child has an equal privilege with the richest of enjoying the 
heated rooms. 

In 1 77 1 the town voted £2 12s. toward keeping a school on "the lower country 
road," and to-day the ^100,000 school-house does not accommodate all the children in 
that section. In 1784 the town voted "that such Girls as can read in a Psalter be 
allowed to go to the Grammar School." They had hitherto gone to the "dame schools," 
where they received very simple instruction in reading, spelling, and sewing. In 1787 
it was voted by the selectmen that " it is not expedient to purchase a stove for the gram- 
mar school." In 1802 it was voted to appropriate ;^300 in each of the four wards for 
building school-houses. 

In 1803 extravagance began to show itself. The town voted IS300 for a new school- 
house, the district raised $180 more, and the building cost $472.86. What became of 
the ^7.14 balance.' Within the last five years a million dollars have been spent in 
erecting school-houses in Dorchester. In 1827 the movement was made for the estab- 
lishment of a high school, but the town voted it inexpedient. It was not until 1852 
that ^6,000 was appropriated by the town for a high-school building, to be built on the 
" School Pasture " land. It stands to-day at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and 
Gibson Street. The second high school was built in 1868 at a cost of 1^30,000. The 




-\ 



The Progress of Education in Dorchester 27 

third, now in process of erection on Talbot Avenue, will cost ^250,000. It is a large 
structure, with an annex at the rear, all of buff brick, with limestone trimmings, and in the 
style of the Renaissance, designed by Hartwell, Richardson & Driver. 

The principal front lies along Talbot Avenue, and the effort has been made to secure 
a dignified and suitable exterior through simple and unpretentious means. 

At opposite ends of the basement of the main building are coat-rooms for girls and 
boys respectively, provided with a locker for each pupil. A spacious and thoroughly 
lighted lunch-room with counters for the steward occupies the intermediate space. Con- 
venient to the coat-rooms are the bicycle-rooms, now acknowledged a necessary equipment 
of the modern school. Entered from the rear is the book unpacking room, from which a 
lift carries the books to the stories above for distribution. 

Liberal toilet accommodations are provided at this level, with shower baths and dress- 
ing-rooms for the use of the Gymnasium and Drill Hall. We should add that each story 
has its toilet-rooms directly over those in the basement, making the plumbing plant very 
compact and simple in its organization. 

By way of the janitor's room we descend to the boiler, coal, and fan rooms, which are 
outside the building and below ground at the east end of the lot. This scheme makes the 
handling of fuel and the removal of ashes an easy matter, and leaves the basement clear 
and free for the uses of the school. 

Fresh warmed air is conveyed from this heating plant through underground ducts to 
upright shafts, and is delivered by means of fan pressure in ample amounts to each occu- 
pant of the building. 

From the basement there are four avenues of escape to the streets, and three wide 
stairways to the floors above. 

The Gymnasium, which is also the Drill Hall, covers an area of nearly 5,500 square 
feet, and in height is equal to the basement and first story of the main building. It has a 
room for the director and a Visitors' Gallery, seating 125 persons. 

Five entrances give access from the street to the first floor corridors. The master's 
suite, consisting of a reception-room and an office, is adjacent to the western doorway. 
Retiring-rooms for men and women teachers are situated near the ends of the building. 
Two class-rooms accommodating 84 pupils each, with a recitation-room adjoining, and 
three class-rooms seating 42 pupils each, together with a third recitation-room, make up 
the working rooms of this floor. 

The principal entrance bisects the main corridor (which runs parallel to Talbot 
Avenue), and lies opposite to the grand staircase leading to the Assembly Hall directly 
over the Gymnasium. 

In this hall are seats for 835 people on the floor and further accommodation for 165 
in the gallery. 

There is a large stage with anterooms at the east end. A handsome open-timber 
roof is the principal decorative feature of this hall, which is to be finished light with 
papier-mach6 ornaments. 

In the main building on the second floor is a large book-storage room with shelving, 
communicating by a lift with the unpacking-room in the basement. Each class-room is 
also provided with its own book closet. 

The Library (24' x 34') is situated at the south-west corner, and with the three recita- 
tion-rooms and the toilet-rooms makes up the quota of minor apartments on this floor. 



28 



The Dorchester Book 



There arc besides three 84-pupil and three 42-pupil class-rooms. 

On the third floor are the laboratories, apparatus-room, physical lecture room, and two 
63-pupil and two 42-pupil class-rooms. There are also toilet-rooms and coat-rooms for 
third floor pupils. 

In 1776 the school expenses of Dorchester were $1,000; in 1806 they were $1,906; 
in 1826, $2,500; in 1856, $23,000; and to-day they are more than $230,000. Thus you 
see the rapid strides which have been made in the facilities for the education of the 
masses. 

Believing as we do that a liberal education at least tends toward a nobler and 
more rational religion, a higher standard of ethics, a broader and more helpful philan- 
thropy, and the encouragement of good living, and that it prepares the rising genera- 
tion for a better performance of their social and civil duties, we can but rejoice that 
Dorchester continues, as in the past, to take a high rank in the process of education. 

As I look back, however, over the early history of Dorchester, and see the progress 
which education has made, and realize under what adverse circumstances this advance 
has been accomplished; and when I consider the disappearance of the simplicity which 
marked the life of the last two centuries, and see the rapid increase in wealth and lux- 
ury, which certainly does not conduce to the development of the educational side of our 
natures, — I fear that with all the increased facilities for intellectual improvement we 
can hardly look for any greater advance in the future than the past has shown. 

Richard C. Humphreys. 














ff^-^i^i^/WJ'P 






SOME OF OUR CHURCHES. 




HURCHES have so multiplied in Dorchester since the voyagers on the 
"Mary and John " brought the First Church virith them that space is lacking 
in the pages of this book for even the briefest mention of them all. In the 
selection of a few for presentation here no definite plan has been followed. 
All the churches could not be described. If some were taken, others equally worthy and 
interesting must be left out. This is all that can be said, all that needs to be said, con- 
cerning the scope of this article. 

The first child of the original Dorchester church was the Second Parish Church. 
For one hundred and seventy-si.x years Dorchester had only one parish and one meeting- 
house. But in 1806 the Second Parish meeting-house was built at the corner of Wash- 
ington and Centre Streets, in'1807 the town voted to form a second parish, and in 1808 
the church was formally organized. In almost a hundred years of great usefulness and 
prosperity it has had but four ministers. The first minister, the Rev. John Codman, D.D., 
had served almost forty years, when he died in 1847. The second minister. Dr. James H. 
Means, had a pastorate of thirty years. The Rev. Edward N. Packard followed with eight 
years of service. The present incumbent is the Rev. Arthur Little, D.D., whose able and 
successful ministry has continued for more than ten years. 

In describing the Baker Memorial Church, one comes into the period of quite modern 
history. The origin of this flourishing Methodist Episcopal church is very interesting. 
In 1868 Miss Sarah Baker, a seamstress, living on Savin Hill, left ;?5,ooo to accumulate 
for twenty years and then to be used in building a Methodist church. It had cost Miss 
Baker many years of hard toil and self-denial to lay aside this modest sum. But after her 
death it increased more rapidly, so that in 1888 it amounted to over twenty-two thousand 
dollars. When this bequest became available, the church 
on Howard Avenue was disbanded, and its members united 
with the people of Savin Hill and Upham's Corner ; and 
a little later the beautiful Baker Memorial Church was 
built at Upham's Corner. The Rev. C. H. Talmadge was 
the minister in charge when the church was built ; and he 
has been succeeded by the Rev. C. S. Rogers, the Rev. 
Frederick N. Upham, and the present minister, the Rev. 
E. T. Curnick. 

St. Mary's Episcopal Church had its origin in 1847. 
A hall was used for worship until 1849, when a church was 
built on Bowdoin Street. This was burned in 1887, and 
the present building on Stoughton Street and Cushing 
Avenue was built in 1888. In 1892 it was enlarged. 
The present rector is the Rev. Walter E. C. Smith, who 
has been in charge since 1892. All Saints' Parish, which 
now has a beautiful church at Ashmont, was originally a 
mission of St. Mary's. 




30 The Dorchester Book 

The Third Religious Society was originally one with the Second Church. In 1813 
a separate organization of the liberals of that congregation was thought best. The 
first church was built during that same year. It was on Washington Street. The 
present church was built in 1840, on Richmond Street. The Rev. Frederick B. Mott 
has been settled over this church since 1892. 

St. Peter's Church may be said to have grown out of the location on which it 
stands, for it is built of the rock that was quarried out of Mt. Ida to make its founda- 
tion. This church has already passed its silver jubilee; but in the twenty-six years and 
more of its prosperous history it has had but one pastor, the Rev. Peter Ronan. 

A church which has not quite yet reached the twenty-fifth milestone on its way is 
the Grove Hall Universalist Parish. It was organized in 1877, and used to worship in the 
building on the corner of Schuyler Street and Blue Hill Avenue; but in 1895 a hand- 
some stone church was built on the corner of Wilder and Washington Streets. The Rev. 
Charles R. Tenney has been minister of this church for more than ten years. 

The Dorchester Temple Baptist Church grew out of a Sunday-school that was 
organized in 1884. The church building, which stands on the corner of Washington 
Street and Welles Avenue, was dedicated in 1892. The Rev. Carey W. Chamberlin has 
been the minister since 1896. 




J 



RiefiAlO/HD 




THE EVERETT HOUSE. 

HAD to be present last spring, to my great regret, and witness the destruc- 
tion of a fine old house. Our French friends would say that I "assisted " at 
its destruction ; but, indeed, I did not assist. The tears would have been 
running down my checks all the time if it had been proper for men to weep. 

This was the old " Oliver house," known since Oliver's day as the old Everett house, 
in Dorchester. It was the house in which my mother was born, and in which she lived 
until she was fifteen years of age. Her stories of childhood were of the games of hide- 
and-seek in its attics, and one of her pleasantest memories was that she planted the honey- 
suckle which overshadowed the little court-yard behind the house. From that honey- 
suckle, when it was more than sixty years old, I was able to take some shoots, which are 
growing now. 

Alas and alas ! in what is called the progress of improvement this house had to be 
pulled down. When I went over to see the men do it, it was a little as if you had asked 
Phidias to assist the barbarians who were knocking to pieces the model for one of his 
statues. They sold me, from the top of the house, two wooden " flames," which for a 
hundred and fifty years, more or less, had blazed there in token of the warmth and light 
within. Edward, who drove the cab which carried me over there, went out into the 
garden and dug up some box, which was planted I do not know how long ago. The box 
has died, but the flames still burn by the steps to my own house. And the first time I 
can find a man in the street who sells gilding in chocolate papers, at fifteen cents a paper, 
I shall buy two papers of it from him, and shall make my flames blaze anew in every 
morning's sun. 

Here is a dear old Dorchester house, of which the history, if its walls could speak, 
would be a part of the history of the times. It was built, so they tell me, in 1760, by one 
Robert Oliver, a West India merchant. Mr. Trask tells this story about him : — 

" Colonel Oliver owned a plantation, or was engaged in trade with some of the inhab- 
itants of the West India Islands, and brought from thence a number of African slaves. 
It was thought that the health of these slaves would be in a better condition, when 
offered for sale, if some employment were given them. As they had been accustomed to 
carrying burdens on their heads, wooden trays were procured for them. These were filled 
with earth from an eminence, and deposited in a hollow of the land near by. Afterward, 
at the suggestions of some of his Boston friends who called to see him, the colonel substi- 
tuted small wheelbarrows for trays. To the amusement of the passers-by the laborers 
were seen at first with the barrows on their heads. Not understanding the rotary power 
to be applied to those vehicles, they ludicrously made themselves the carriages." 

It has always been said, in a free-and-easy way, that Oliver was a Tory ; but I do not 
know what is the foundation for this story. His name does not appear in the rather care- 
ful list of Loyalists drawn up by that admirable historian, Mr. Lorenzo Sabine. A good 
many of the Olivers were Loyalists, and went to Halifax for their Torydom, among 
others Andrew Oliver. Peter Oliver also went to Halifax, at the notification of the town. 



32 



The Dorchester Book 



Thomas Oliver, at the house which was James Russell Lowell's house afterward, stood 
on his doorsteps and defied the Middlesex militia, until they compelled him to give " full 
compliance with their demands." 

One authority says it was he who lived in our house before he lived in Cambridge. 
Our house was owned, after Oliver's day, by John Vassal, another Tory refugee. 

I have fancied, rightly or not, that the old Everett house looked a little like what is 
now the Lowell house. At all events, it was a fine comfortable old house, built, as it 
were, on two sides of a square. It had two front doors, as such houses do ; and then there 
was a little half-garden, ha.\i-" faUo," behind. One of the front doors led through to a 
haJl by which you could go into this patio again. 

There was afterward a Robert Oliver in Baltimore, and another 
Robert Oliver in Barre, who was a commander of American troops. 
But who the merchant Robert Oliver was, and where he went to, and 
what place he has left in history, I cannot tell. I cannot help hoping 
that some of the young readers of this magazine will make it a duty 
for the ne.xt fortnight to find out who he was ; and I assure such 
a reader that he will add to the prosperity of the world and its happi- 
ness if he will inform us, through any proper Dorchester medium, of 
the results of his inquiry. 

Among other things which Robert Oliver did which were sensi- 
ble was the planting of some English walnut trees around that house. 
What is more, he so planted them that they grew and increased and 
bore English walnuts. I never heard of any other English walnut 
trees in Massachusetts. There may be many such, but none of those 
who pick the fruit in autumn have ever sent it to me : I wish they 
would. There are plenty of English walnut trees in California now; 
and why no enterprising person plants fifty of their nuts in his back- 
yard in Dorchester, in the hope that his children may eat the fruit, 
is a question which I cannot answer. 

Nor, as I have said, can I tell when Robert Oliver died or was 
driven out of town, or if he were driven out of town, or if, on the 
other hand, he served in the rebel army, or if there were no such 
person. To me he is a sort of Melchizedek, without beginning of years or end of days. 
Now from the mythical period of the Everett house I approach matters of more cer- 
tainty. I had a grandfather whose name was Oliver Everett. Dear old Dr. Pierce, who 
was also a Dorchester man, and who was good at dates, said to me, the first time I ever 
spoke with him : " Mr. Hale, your grandfather was born in 1752, took his second degree at 
Harvard College in 1782, was ordained in 1782, resigned in 1792, and died in 1802. You 
were born in 1822, and will take your second degree in 1842." All these coincidences — a 
little forced, as the reader may observe — connected me with the number "two," but also 
connected me with my grandfather Everett. He seems to have been a very amiable and, 
I should think, public-spirited man. He was the minister of the church which old people 
remember as Dr. Kirkland's, Mr. Young's, and Mr. Tilden's church, which was burned 
down in the Boston fire. I believe he was a patriotic, thoughtful, and even learned man, 
very much loved by his parishioners. But his health was delicate; and in 1792, as Dr. 
Pierce said, he retired from the ministry. His brother, Moses Everett, was already the 




One of the " Flames. 



^■■)>V -*% 




Edward Everett hou3e 



^*?^*^ji«^' 



The Everett House 3i 

minister of the First Church in Dorchester ; and, as I suppose, it was at his suggestion 
that Mr. Oliver Everett bought the Oliver house, and removed with his young family 
there. 

In this house two years afterward Edward Everett, afterward Governor of this 
State, was born ; and in 1796 my own mother was born there. So it happened that in all 
my childhood Dorchester, — with its "Love Lane," with the old burial-ground where 
" snappers " grew (the cucubaliis of the botanists), with Dorchester Neck, now South 
Boston, to which people went for sea-baths in summer,— Dorchester, which started such 
stories as these, was dear to my infancy. I may say that the first time and the last time 
I "was ever thrown from a horse was when I was six years old and had been taken out on 
horseback to see my grandfather's house in Dorchester. As I rode in, some boys in 
South Boston stoned the horse. He ran away, and pitched me off, of which all I recollect 
is that my legs were not long enough to go into the stirrups, and I was riding with my 
feet in the leathers of the saddle. 

Here the Rev. Oliver Everett died in 1802. I was able last year to purchase a copy 
of his eulogy on George Washington, a book which I have long been eager to own. 
It is an interesting tribute to Washington, delivered on the occasion of his death, before 
a public meeting of the people of Dorchester, and contains one or two anecdotes of 
Washington which I have never seen anywhere else. 

One of the recollections of those early days is that my uncle Alexander Everett, who 
was older than Edward Everett, was as a young man one of the curators of the Dor- 
chester Free Library, which had been set on foot, as I rather think, by Moses and 
Oliver Everett. The library was always open on Saturdays ; and Mr. Alexander Everett 
used to tell the story that people would send down for books, and that the messenger 
would say, "Mother wants two books, — a sermon book and another book." This shows 
the happy union of secular and religious thought in the community at that time. 

Of the after history of this house I wish you would ask some Dorchester boy or girl 
to give us in some way the detail. I knew it when I was a man as the home of the 
brothers Richardson, two accomplished and charming gentlemen, who gave their lives, I 
may say, to horticulture. The garden which they had made behind and around the old 
house was one of the beautiful, I might say extraordinary, gardens of Boston. I always 
remember that one of the Richardsons said to me that in certain years, which he named, 
he had raised four thousand peonies from the seed. It proved that none of the vari- 
eties were valuable enough to be maintained, and after three or four years he destroyed 
all the four thousand, so that he might begin again. It is a fine illustration of a good 
many things, — of the lavish richness of nature, of the necessity of a law of selection, 
and of the infinite faith and confidence of man, the child of God, who has to determine to 
"get the best." 

The name of Edward Everett Square must henceforth preserve the memory of the 
old home. But there are some of us who will recollect it both with joy and with sorrow, — 
with joy for the happiness of the children who grew up there, with sorrow that a rising 
generation shall not see with their own eyes how their fathers builded, perhaps, better 
than they knew. 

Edward E. Hale. 



m 



THE BIRTHDAY OF DORCHESTER. 

HE first shipload of our Dorchester people did not much like it that they were 
landed at Nantascot instead of somewhere on the banks of Charles River, as 
they had intended. The place where Captain Squeb insisted on leaving 
them seemed altogether bleak and inhospitable. They had been seventy 
days at sea. They were weary and sick, and their cattle were nearly famished. This 
did not correspond at all to the goodly region that Ralph and Richard Sprague, two 
honest Dorsetshire men, had spied out for them last year. Besides, there were already 
" Old Planters " on the spot, — three families, at least ; and it did not look as if there 
would be a living for any more. So they started out exploring, determined to find a loca- 
tion more suitable to their needs. 

A company of ten, under Captain Southcote, with Roger Clap as diarist of the 
expedition, set out for a voyage up the Charles, in a boat borrowed from one of the " Old 
Planters." They went as far as the present Watertown, where they landed, thinking that 
they had found the promised land. Here they remained for a day or so, having friendly 
interviews with the Indians, and looking about for a place of settlement. This spot is 
still called Dorchester Fields. It is near the site of the United States Arsenal. 

In the mean time, however, others of their number had also been on a voyage 
of discovery, and had found a point of land much nearer Nantascot, which offered fine 
grazing for their cattle. This they decided to occupy temporarily, intending later to 
settle permanently at some place on the Charles River. Captain Southcote and his 
company were recalled, and it was decided to land upon the south side of this desirable 
neck which the Indians called Mattapannock. The spot has borne the name Old Harbor 
ever since. They did not, however, " sit down upon " this fine grazing land, but left it 
for the exclusive use of their cattle. How good the sweet June grass must have seemed 
to those hungry creatures ! After seventy days at sea they needed the touch and the 
smell and the taste of it to convince them that they had not turned into salt beef. 

It was now fully the middle of the week when this removal began, which must have 
been attended by many difficulties, not to say dangers. Hastily constructed booths 
of boughs and bark, with tents, were all their shelter. The making of these and the 
assorting of their scanty household goods must have fully occupied their time until 
Saturday night. Dr. Harris, in his centennial address, says : " Then they rested from 
their labors, that they might hallow the Sabbath and unite in praising God who had 
brought them safely over the ocean and found a place for them to dwell in and furnished 
a table in the wilderness. They sang a portion of the ninetieth Psalm. It was the 
Lord's song in a strange land. The air was Freedom, the symphony joyous." 

Thou, Lord, hast beene our sure defence, 

Our place of ease and rest, 
In all times past, yea, so long since 

As cannot be exprest. 



The Birthday of Dorchester 35 

Refresh us with thy mercy soone, 

And then our joy shall be : 
All times so long as time shall last 

In heart rejoyce shall we. 

Oh, let thy worke and power appeare 

And on thy servants light ; 
And shew unto thy children deare 

Thy glory and thy might. 

Lord, let thy grace and mercy stand 

On us thy .servants thus : 
Confirm the workes we take in hand, 

Lord, prosper them to us. 

This was the 6th of June, O.S., the 17th according to our calendar. It might 
well be celebrated as the birthday of Dorchester, though it is not probable that the 
settlers finally decided to remain on this location, and began laying out their town plot 
before midsummer. 





EARLY INDUSTRIES. 

HE successful power of old Dorchester was that of masterful men, directing 
enterprises and pushing economic pursuits. The most noteworthy contribu- 
tion of New England to the world's history is in her steady application of 
common sense to the problem of living. We know that a higher principle 
than mere gain was in the minds of the early settlers, yet there was some common clay 
in these men and women; and they also hoped to better their condition economically 
and socially. The early settlers of Dorchester, as we know, evidently were attracted by 
the salt marshes, which offered food for their cattle, and by the Neponset River, which has 
been identified with the whole history of Dorchester down to the present day. The coun- 
try furnished springs, brooks, and water-power which they were not slow to utilize. The 
swarming myriads of fish were the chief motor in starting the round of exchange. The 
profit of early corn planting was large, especially when the crop was converted into beaver 
through trade with the Indians, beaver being in demand for use as currency in all transac- 
tions. 

Accounts of the early fisheries are meagre ; but history says that the future of the 
country was assured by merchants and traders who came to Dorchester, trained in Dorset, 
Devon, or elsewhere, and were the first to set up the trade of fishing. In early times 
Neponset River was full of fish of various kinds, which afforded a large revenue to the early 
settlers, and contributed in no small degree to the support of the inhabitants through the 
protracted wars of the last century. In 1634 the General Court granted to Israel Stough- 
ton a right to build a weir below his mill, upon condition that he was to sell the alewives 
at five shillings per thousand and as much less as he could afford. Of the quantity of ale- 
wives then taken we have no account, but from the price we should think them very 
plenty. In 1681 the town granted Ezra Clap and Thomas Swift liberty to catch fish at 
Neponset and to make a stage for the purpose. From an old diary of 1769 we extract the 
following : — 

" Caught 2,000 shad one day in the seine." 

" Made a large haul of shad. Caught 4,000. Sent 40 barrels to Boston." 

" Caught 3,000 shad. Carried 80 barrels to Boston." 

Shad was the principal stock in trade, and it is said that the hardy fishermen always 
waited for moonlight to spread their seines. There was no light upon the Gurnet, and no 
beacon on the bay to protect the lone fishermen ; and they were imperilled by the Indians. 
Yet they were not daunted in their regular exercise of this industry, which greatly aided 
in consolidating the settlements on the shore. These old fishermen were born traders, 
and they have been rightly called " hucksters of the sea." 

Without ships, no industries ; and, without industries, agriculture would languish, — 
thought the Dorchester fathers. And we find ship-building carried on in Dorchester from 
1640 to 1815. Shallops of thirty or forty tons' burden were built at or near the landing- 
place called Gulliver's Creek as early as the first year mentioned. In 1693 Enoch Bad- 



Early Industries 37 

dock built the ship " Mary and Sarah," receiving for the same |2,7oo. Some of the 
vessels here built lasted into the present century. 

When farming was established, and wheat and maize plentiful enough to require mills 
for grinding, the primitive mortars borrowed from the Indians gave place to millstones 
driven by wind and water. Dorchester claims the first water mill, built by Israel Stough- 
ton, and in the autumn of 1634 the waters of the Neponset turned the first wheel ever 
set upon its shores, and ground the first corn ever ground by water-power in New Eng- 
land. This mill proved of incalculable advantage to the Dorchester Plantation, and gave 
name and character to the locality. 

Before railroads were kno.vn and bridges obstructed the passage of the stream, the 
head of navigation on the Neponset River was a point of no little importance. The centre 
of trade was a large wholesale and retail store of Daniel Vose, a man of great business 
activity and capacity ; also, a leading man of his day. He seems to have been the factor 
of the farmers and producers for a wide section of country. Loaded teams bringing in 
merchandise from country stores made this their terminus, and received in exchange West 
Indian goods and other commodities. Butter, cheese, eggs, flaxseed, and hoop-poles were 
the chief articles of traffic ; and in return for them the store furnished everything from a 
hogshead of molasses to a paper of pins. Mr. Vose owned sloops running to Boston, Salem, 
and Gloucester, to meet the demands of his business and carry the various products of 
the mills already located. In 1833 navigation on the river reached its greatest extent, 
when seventy-four vessels of an aggregate size of six thousand tons discharged their freight 
at the village. Thus on the Neponset River, which now looks so small to us, were started 
most of the industries which were so important to the welfare of the early inhabitants and 
have since contributed to the prosperity and wealth of the whole country. 

With the dread of the Indian war-whoop at any moment, Dorchester attempted the 
manufacture of gunpowder in 1675. Randolph claimed that it was as good and strong 
as the best English powder. This was the first powder-mill in the country. 

The rolling and slitting mill in Dorchester was an important industrial link, when the 
human hand did most of the work now done by automatic machinery. The mill took the 
bar iron, rolled it into a ribbon, then slit it into rods, which the farmer bought, and, while 
sitting by his kitchen fire, hammered it into nails. The slitting process was a secret 
jealously guarded by the craft ; but a man by the name of Hashian Thomas disguised him- 
self, and hung around the mills, and, when the workmen were at dinner, stole the principles 
of the machinery, and built a machine for himself. 

A new enterprise, small in pounds, but large in power, was the establishment of the 
first paper-mill. In the year 1750 Thomas Hancock, Mr. Deering, and other gentlemen of 
Boston, desirous to introduce the manufacture of paper into the province, erected a mill in 
Dorchester, procured utensils and such workmen as could be obtained, but, after a few 
years of experimenting, found it a losing business, ceased operations, and sold the mill for 
a small sum to Mr. Jeremiah Smith, of Milton. It remained unoccupied till about the 
year 1760, when Mr. Boies, who married Mr. Smith's daughter, found an Englishman who 
understood the business and who made a success of it. In those days there were no junk 
men to collect rags. The mill-owners advertised that they would be in Boston on Satur- 
day mornings at a certain store, and would purchase rags. The women and boys came on 
those days, bringing their rag bags and selling to the manufacturer. The great-grandsons 
of Mr. Boies are running a paper-mill on the same spot. There are about as many rags 



38 The Dorchester Book 

used at the present mill in one day as Mr. Boies used. in a year. In connection with the 
advertisement for rags appeared the following bit of poetry, published in the Boston News 

Letter in 1769: — 

" Rags are beauties which concealed lie; 
But, when in Paper, how it charms the eye ! 
Pray, save your rags, new beauties to discover ; 
For of paper truly every one's a_lover. 
By Pen and Press such knowledge is displayed 
As wouldn't exist if Paper was not made. 
Wisdom of things mysterious, divine, 
Illustriously doth on Paper shine." 

In the fall of 1764 a wayfarer who seemed to be in distress and in need of sympathy, 
giving his name as John Hannan, from Ireland, a chocolate-maker by trade, was loitering 
around the paper-mill. Mr. James Boies carefully investigated his case, and was con- 
vinced of his sincerity. He interceded in his behalf, and induced Wentworth & Sons, 
who at that time were erecting a new mill on the site of the old powder-mill, to make 
provision for the inanufacture of chocolate. This was done ; and on the spot where the 
large chocolate-mills now stand, owned by the late Henry L. Pierce, John Hannan, in the 
spring of 1765, made the first chocolate manufactured in this country. 

In 1798 Benjamin Crehore, who was born in Milton, was assisting in getting up 
machinery and appliances of the stage for the play of " Forty Thieves," which was 
soon to be introduced in Boston. His inventive skill was so admired by the 
leader of the orchestra that he applied to him to repair his broken bass-viol. Mr. 
Crehore undertook the job, and is said to have improved the tone of the instrument. 
This resulted in his beginning the manufacture of bass-viols, the first ever made in this 
country, and said to rival those imported. One of them at the present time is in the 
possession of Mr. John Preston, of Hyde Park. In the early part of this century a good 
deacon of Dorchester was visiting at Thomaston, Me., and, being quite musical, was 
trying the big bass-viol belonging to his friend. He remarked, "What a fine-toned 
instrument this is!" "Yes," said his friend, "we prize it very highly for its tone and 
its great antiquity; but we don't know just how old it is." This led the deacon to look it 
over very carefully ; and, looking through the opening in front, he discovered a small paper 
within, which read, " Ben Crehore, maker, Milton." And this gave, approximately, the 
desired date. Mr. Crehore's reputation in the musical world of that day caused all sorts 
of disabled musical instruments to flow into his shop for repairs. Among these was 
a piano. After analyzing it and mastering its movements, he entered upon the manufact- 
ure of pianos. The first piano in this country was made by Benjamin Crehore, in 
Milton. 

Upon the eastern branch of the Neponset River, Paul Revere, of Revolutionary 
notoriety, established the first copper works in America in 1801, for the making of brass 
guns, bells, etc. It is probable that the bell which now rings in the Second Church, 
Dorchester, was there cast. He made two bells for the Second Church. The first one 
having cracked, he cast a second one, which has withstood the wear of time till now. 
The bill for the same, signed by Paul Revere, is now in the possession of the church. 

The manufacture of rum in Dorchester was a large factor in the movement of trade. 
The lumbermen and fisher-folk demanded a strong stimulant to offset their heavy diet 






"V 




TniVttPOnSn, /f-o/n Cener-atAi 



*.V 







Early Industries 39 

of pork and Indian corn. At the present day it is hardly called a necessity ; but our 
good old fathers could not raise a building, hang a bell, or gather the harvest without it. 
We find one of the old merchants advertising his goods in the following poetic strain : — 

" Lay out your dollar when you come, 
And you shall have a glass of rum " ; 

and then, with a keen eye to business, adds : — 

" N.B. — Since man to man is so unjust, 
'Tis hard to say whom I can trust. 
IVe trusted many, to my sorrow : 
Pay me to-day, I'll trust to-morrow." 

The woman who finds so much enjoyment in playing whist (if she lives in Dorches- 
ter) should have the added pleasure of knowing that the first playing cards ever manufact- 
ured in this country were made in Dorchester. She can also remember, as she enjoys 
her chocolate and fancy cracker at the club tea, that they were both first manufactured 
in Dorchester. 

Weaving and spinning were done at home. The young women realized fifty cents 
a week, as they went from house to house with their hand-looms. Those who owned silk- 
looms must have been especially skilled in the art. 

The War of 1812 created a great demand for broadcloth and satinets; and, to meet 
this, a large stone mill was erected for the manufacture of woollen cloth and chocolate. 
The manufacture of the broadcloths and satinets continued for some five years ; and, as the 
demand decreased, the woollen part of the mill was shut down. 

So many things were first manufactured in Dorchester that the rest of the world is 
under obligations to prove that any good thing was first made anywhere else. 

Elizabeth W. Hazard. 




DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 

S early as June 15, 1775, the Committee of Safety had recommended that one 

or more of the hills of Dorchester should be occupied and fortified by the 

patriot army, but it was not until the following March that Washington and 

his generals found it possible to undertake this important work. 

By this time Colonel Henry Knox had brought in a good supply of siege-guns and 

powder and ball. Many of these heavy guns had been dragged on sledges from Ticon- 

deroga, at the cost of tremendous toil and hardship. But their value in the events which 

were to follow more than justified the effort of getting them to Cambridge. 

In council of war Quartermaster-General Mifflin advocated the 4th of March as the 
time to seize and fortify Dorchester Heights, saying that, the next day being the anniver- 
sary of the Boston Massacre, " it would have a wonderful effect upon the spirits of the 
troops." The movement was decided upon ; and Generals Ward, Thomas, Spencer, and 
Mifflin were put in charge of it. 

Directly after this council Washington writes, " I am preparing to take post on Dor- 
chester Heights, to try if the enemy will be so kind as to come out to us," and " I should 
think, if anything will induce them to hazard an engagement, it will be our attempt to for- 
tify these heights, as, on that event's taking place, we shall be able to command a great 
part of the town and almost the whole harbor, and to make them rather disagreeable than 
otherwise." Among Washington's general orders at this time was one forbidding card- 
playing among officers and soldiers. The service of God and the country was deemed 
too serious business at this crisis to be mi.xed up with any sort of levity or immorality. 

Out in the Roxbury camp there was tremendous bustle of preparation for the new 
movement. Immense quantities of "screwed" (baled) hay were brought in carts. Oxen 
and every sort of implement for intrenching were being collected. Barrels and hogs- 
heads were filled with earth and stones. Months before, Mifflin had sent a lieutenant 
and thirty-six men out to the farm of John Homans, in Milton, to cut silver birch and 
swamp-brush and bind them into fascines. The canny quartermaster-general had 
thought such things might be handy to have around. So now they are all ready ; and 
he sends John Boies, of Dorchester, and Mr. Goddard, of Brookline, to bring them in. 

At sunset on March 2 a furious cannonading was directed against the British ships 
in the harbor, from Somerville, Roxbury, and East Cambridge, to distract attention from 
the movement toward Dorchester Heights. This was kept up during the 3d and 4th ; 
and it was about seven o'clock in the evening of the 4th when the expedition started, 
under command of General Thomas. First came eight hundred troops, then three 
hundred wagons bearing the spades, crowbars, hatchets, hammers, and nails. Straw was 
strewn along the road to mufifle the sound of the wheels. Then came the main body 
of the troops, followed by wagons with bales of hay, the barrels of stones and earth, and 
the heavy siege-guns. 

This procession reached the Heights quietly and in perfect order, and there found 
Colonel Richard Gridley, the chief engineer, who had already marked out the plan 



Dorchester Heig;hts 4^ 

of fortification. Digging was out of the question, for the ground was frozen eighteen 
inches deep. Therefore, the defences were made entirely of hay, barrels of earth and 
stones, with fascines and chandeliers. At the base of the Heights were chevaux-de-frise 
made of the apple-trees of the neighborhood. Colonel Samuel Pierce, of Dorchester, was 
there with his men ; and he writes in his diary as follows : " March 4. Our people went 
on to Dorchester Neck and built two forts in the same night, and there was 380 teems 
and about 5,000 men, — the most work don that ever was don in one night in New 
England." 

When the morning of the 5th dawned, Howe and his officers rubbed their eyes with 
amazement. It seemed to theiii that at least twelve thousand of the rebels must have been 
at work to have accomplished so much in one night. It was certain that these busy 
patriots had "don" altogether too much for Boston to be any longer a comfortable nest 
for British troops, unless these fortifications could be captured. An attack was planned, 
but was not carried out ; and with every hour the American position grew stronger. Nook's 
Hill, still nearer to Boston than the first location, was next seized and fortified. By the 
8th of March Howe had decided to leave Boston, and sent word under a flag of truce that 
he would go without destroying the city if his troops were not fired upon. By the 17th 
he had gotten his eight thousand troops and some nine hundred Tory citizens of Boston 
on shipboard, and had started for Halifax. But he left behind two hundred cannon, 
an immense quantity of muskets, military stores of many kinds, and ten times as much 
powder and ball as Washington's army had ever seen before. Boston and New England 
were freed from the presence of the enemy by this one great stroke, which had cost the 
patriots not more than twenty lives. 



THE DORCHESTER WOMEN'S CLUB. 




mm 




C <:■' -"/I 



The closing years of this nineteenth century are rich with signifi- 
cance to the feminine portion of the present generation, as bringing 
in their train the inspiration of union among women, and of organiza- 
tion adapted to the needs of differing environments. In the staid and 
settled old towns of Massachusetts, under the rigor of encrusted social 
order, homes were as isolated, in any large and sympathetic sense, as 
though stretches of virgin forest still rendered them remote and inac- 
cessible ; and the spontaneous rapidity which the club movement 
among women obtained in our own State and throughout the breadth 
of the land in the early nineties proved convincingly the anxious desire 
of busy women to shake off the fetters of absurd convention, and to 
meet other busy women on common ground, where counsel might be 
taken together on all things near to women's minds and hearts. 
A little spark was lighted, in 1892, in the Harvard Street section of Dorchester, 
which flamed among the kindling in all the prim little corners of our formal old town ; 
and, lo ! within three months three hundred eager women were conferring together, and 
perfecting an organization which should be broad, simple, and elastic. Twice since then 
has the limit of membership been advanced, and to-day five hundred 
women stand enrolled as willing workers in and faithful supporters 
of the Dorchester Woman's Club. Successive boards of ofificers, 
changing in wise progression, have maintained the custom first 
established, and presented annually sixteen programs, stimulating 
to the thought, the sympathies, or the artistic sense of the attend- 
ing members, and catering at times to their palates as well, 
since even women grow wondrous open-hearted over their teacups. 
For several seasons a succession of evening meetings has enabled 
the Club to dispense its hospitality to the querying, sometimes 
sceptical, but ever curious husbands, fathers, and brothers of its 
members. As a natural evolution, kindred tastes and needs have 
resulted in kindred researches ; and many classes have formed, fulfilled their respective 
missions, and disbanded. A guild of singers, however, has become 
a permanent joy and credit to the Club ; and a company of delvers 
after antiquarian lore, growing larger and more enthusiastic with 
each passing year, has frequently contributed for its pleasure such 
store of studious acquirement as to make it justly proud. 

The policy of the Club has been ever one of helpful suggestion 
to its members and of sympathetic communion and free-hearted 
recreation among them. Not until the project of a club home, which 
had been cherished from the earliest days, began slowly to take 
tangible shape did the strength of the organization become active 





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■'^VHo'wifHo"ME'"e?AsTAnD OF j)opcH^5YER^^,;&-MAf15 CiU6 




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The Dorchester Woman's Club 



43 



and apply itself vigorously to the prosecution of earnest and sustained work. Amid 

perplexing problems, not the least of which was the handling of business details in a 

club of the nature already described, a Siamese twin, in the shape of a new corporation, 

was evolved, which should bear the burden and the responsibility, conduct necessary 

business with its own board of directors, attend to the burning questions 

of capital and revenue, and provide for the Club "all the comforts of a 

home " for a stated annual rental. Through a happy combination of 

bubbling enthusiasm and fortunate ignorance of legislative delays, the new 

corporation obtained from an indulgent General Court, out of due season, a 

special charter, authorizing a lower price on the stock than statute law 

permitted. By its by-laws the union with the Club was at once made 

absolute, since active, past, and prospective club members were alone 

eligible to the new corporation, and the Club itself, in its corporate 

capacity, was made the only unlimited stockholder. As the capital was gradually amassed, 

the most timid and cautious women became venturesome; and a building was finally 

determined upon, which should fill a long-felt want, in the trite phrase, and become a boon 

to all Dorchester citizens, as well as to the Club. 

The Club-house, designed by a Dorchester architect, constructed by a Dorchester 
builder, owned and managed by Dorchester women, is surely a representative Dorchester 
institution. And the club members derive no small satisfaction from the thought that in 
seven brief years of association they have evolved from 




" Airy nothing 
A local habitation and a name.'' 



Harriet E. Bean. 




LUCY STONE. 

JUCY STONE made her home in Dorchester from 1870 to 1893, and was 
president, until her death, of the Dorchester Woman Suffrage League. 

Born at West Brookfield, Mass., in 1818, a farmer's daughter, often going 
barefoot to drive the cows, by starlight before dawn, she grew up a vigor- 
ous, fearless child, eager for education, and especially desirous to go to college and study 
Greek and Hebrew, to see whether the texts enjoining the subjection of women were 
correctly translated. She was the first woman in Massachusetts to take a college degree. 
To get it, she had to go to Oberlin, then the only college that admitted girls. She picked 
berries and chestnuts, and sold them to buy books, and taught district schools, studying 
and teaching alternately. It took her nine years to earn the money to take her to 
Oberlin. She worked her way through college, partly by teaching, partly by doing 
housework in the ladies' boarding hall at three cents an hour. She graduated with 
credit in 1847, and began the same year to lecture on woman's rights and the abolition 
of slavery. 

During the next ten years she lectured widely through the United States and Canada 
to immense audiences, drawn together by curiosity to hear a woman, and held by her rare 
eloquence and the singular sweetness of her voice. Often she put up the posters for her 
own meetings, with a little package of tacks and a stone picked up from the street. 
Sometimes she was pelted. Once she was almost stunned by a hymn-book hurled at her 
head. On another occasion she was played upon with cold water through a hose. But, 
when she could gain a hearing, the charm of her personality almost always won her 
audience ; and mobs would often listen to her when they howled down every other 
speaker. 

In 1855 she married Henry B. Blackwell, a young merchant of Cincinnati, an active 
abolitionist and advocate of woman's rights. He had heard her speak at the Boston 
State House, in 1853, with Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker, at a hearing in support 
of a woman suffrage petition, headed by Louisa Alcott's mother ; and he had determined 
then to marry her, if possible. She regarded the loss of a wife's name at marriage as a 
symbol of the loss of her individuality. Eminent lawyers, including Ellis Gray Loring 
and Samuel E. Sewall, told her there was no law requiring a wife to change her name, it 
was only a custom ; and the Chief Justice of the United States gave her his unofficial 
opinion to the same effect. Accordingly, with her husband's full approval, she kept her 
own name. 

It would be impossible even to summarize here the vast amount of work that Mrs. 
Stone did, all through her life, in behalf of equal rights for women. In 1869, with 
William Lloyd Garrison, George William Curtis, Colonel Higginson, Mrs. Julia Ward 
Howe, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, and others, she organized the American Woman Suf- 
frage Association, and was chairman of its Executive Committee for nearly twenty years. 
She always craved, not the post of prominence, but the post of work. 

Most of the money with which the Woman s Journal ■wz.^ started, in 1870, was raised 



The Oldest Apple-trees 



45 



by her efforts. When Mrs. Livermore resigned the editorship in 1872, Mrs. Stone and 
Mr. Blackwell took charge of it, and carried it on thereafter. 

Mrs. Stone was a small woman, with a low voice, calm and gentle manners, and 
a face beaming with motherliness. She was one of the most beloved citizens of 
Dorchester; and when, in 1893, she passed away, one who had been her lifelong oppo- 
nent said that the death of no woman in America had ever called out so wide-spread 
a tribute of respect and esteem. 

Alice Stone Blackwell. 



THE OLDEST APPLE-TREES. 



^^^S^jNE of the early happenings in Dorchester whose fruits we can directly enjoy 
Mfci^™| to-day was the planting of an apple orchard at Fox Point by Edward Bul- 

^M^-A^W lock, "husbandman," as he was called. He came to Dorchester in 1635, and 
■ ^ *^ ' returned to England in 1649, "having by the providence of God a calling and 

determination to do so with all expedicon." Some of these ancient trees are now in 

bearing and are of great size, one of them being eight feet in circumference. 

In all probability these are the oldest apple-trees in New England, if not in America. 

They stand upon the land of Mr. James H. Stark, of Savin Hill. 





TWO OR THREE CLUBS. 

jjOR many years the Old Dorchester Club had its rooms near Field's Corner ; 
but in 1892 the demand for larger and better quarters brought about a reor- 
ganization, and the building of the present club-house on the corner of 
Pleasant and Pearl Streets. This building was completed and occupied in 
November of that year. Mr. William B. Bird was president at the time. Much interest 
was felt in the club by the best people of Dorchester, and shortly after the opening of the 
new club-house the membership was increased from two hundred to two hundred and fifty. 
Since then the club has been very prosperous socially and financially. Outwardly the 
building is very attractive, and within it is all that can be desired for beauty and utility. 
In the large and handsome parlors, reading-rooms, billiard-rooms, and banquet halls, to- 
gether with four spacious bowling alleys and the fine concert hall, the members find every 
facility for social enjoyment. 

The success of the Old Dorchester Club has been in its management and the har- 
mony between officers and members. Mr. William B. Bird continued to be its president 
during 1893 and 1894. In 1895 Mr. Thomas F. Temple was president; in 1896, Colonel 
Andrew M. Benson ; in 1897 and 1898, Mr. Frank Huckins. Thepresident nowis the Hon. 
L. C. Southerd. 

The club does not selfishly confine its privileges to men. The great upper hall has 
been the scene of many entertainments, lectures, and concerts to which members have 
brought their families. Ladies are always welcome to the parlors on the second floor 
arranged for their use, to the banquet hall, and to the ladies' bowling alley. As a means 
of bringing together citizens of Dorchester's wide-spread territory who would become 
acquainted in no other way, this club has been a great benefit. 



One of the well-known Dorchester clubs is the Athena, which is composed of seventy- 
five wide-awake "bachelor maids." The penalty imposed upon members for leaving the 
state of single blessedness is, by the constitution of the club, transfer to associate member- 
ship. It is only fair to say, however, that in its short life a number have not been 
deterred from incurring this heavy penalty. 

The club was organized in February, 1897, with a nucleus of twenty-five charter mem- 
bers, the object being to draw together a circle of the younger Dorchester women for 
mutual improvement and enjoyment, and to encourage the spirit of friendliness, as well as 
to contribute a share to the progress of the community. In October, 1897, it was enrolled 
as a member of the State Federation. Its meetings are held the second and fourth Satur- 
day evenings of each month in the parlors of the Dorchester Woman's Club-house, when 
original papers are read by members or lectures are given by outside talent, with an occa- 
sional evening devoted to music or to some social form of entertainment. 

The club has very fittingly chosen the name of the Greek goddess, adopting her as its 
presiding genius, and the owl as its emblem. 

The president is Miss May C. Spencer ; recording secretary, Miss Stella E. Weaver. 



Two or Three Clubs 47 

The Chickatawbut Club came into the world with a mission ; and it is not a discredit 
to the club to say that its success, much as it has accomplished, has been but partial. Its 
mission was the purification of politics, and the club was conceived during the municipal 
campaign of 1888. It was born in a car of the New York & New England Railroad, 
somewhere between Boston and Harvard Street, its parents being its first president, the 
late W. Fred Whitcomb, and its first secretary and subsequent president, Charles C. Taft. 
It was named by the Hon. Thomas W. Bicknell, and christened at the Boston Tavern 
on Feb. 23, 1889, fourteen witnesses being present. There were at first but thirteen, but 
the entire party refused to be seated until the hedges were beaten for a fourteenth guest 
to nullify such sinister influence as might otherwise obtain. The name is derived from 
the chief of the tribe of Indians which, at the advent of Dorchester's first settlers, dwelt 
on the banks of the Neponset. 

The club's first officers were VV. Fred Whitcomb, president ; Charles C. Taft secretary ; 
Charles H. Nute, treasurer. Its later presidents have been Frank E. Brigham, Henry F. 
Howe, Edmund F. Snow, Charles C. Taft, Edward Payson Jackson, Henry B. Blackwell, 
Henry Richardson, and the present president, Charles A. Young. It has bad as secre- 
taries Charles C. Taft, Joseph A. E. Stewart, Alpheus Sanford, and the present secretary, 
A. Warren Gould ; as treasurers, Charles H. Nute, Charles C. Taft, and T. Henry 
Keenan. 

It has had in its membership one former United States senator, and has had as 
guests and speakers three other United States senators now in office. A frequent guest 
and speaker has been the present Secretary of the Navy, John D. Long. A list of those 
who have spoken before the club in its more than ten years of life would include all 
of the local candidates for office, most of the clergymen, all of the governors and lieuten- 
ant governors, and most of the higher State officers and men and women of national 
and international reputation in politics, art, science, and letters. It is a man's club, 
but has held annual ladies' nights, many of which have been affairs of great brilliancy, 
the wives of governors, congressmen, and senators, and women famous for their own 
work, gracing the occasions. First and last, almost every prominent man in Dorchester, 
who was also a Republican, has belonged to the famous Chickatawbut Club. 

No article on the Chickatawbut Club would, however, be complete without special 
mention of its first president, Mr. William Fred Whitcomb, who died in harness shortly 
after the club organized, whose loss was an irreparable one to the club, and who was 
deeply mourned by thousands, irrespective of everything but the brotherhood of man. 

Mr. Whitcomb died in the early prime of life, a man of exemplary habits in every 
walk of life. His death called out the most profound and touching tributes of esteem : 
and his last and special pride, the Chickatawbut Club, has each year appointed a com 
mittee to place flowers on his grave on the nation's Decoration Day. 



THE DORCHESTER SYMPHONY. 




I BELIEVE it must be widely known that Dorchester is the home of musical 
genius, the favorite resting-place of great talent and the fortunate pos- 
sessor of many gifts. Here Art has come, with its high ideals, its 
exacting duties, and its unspeakable pleasures, to uplift the responsive 
listener until, at length, he shall have the masters and their 
noblest works among his daily thoughts. 

It is only through the earnestness of purpose and 
splendid enthusiasm of Mr. Charles McLaughlin (the 
director) that an orchestra of which we may well feel 
proud has been brought together here. It is composed 
of the best amateurs and the most solid and steadfast 
loveis of the highest in art. Its aims are : to bring us into a long-desired intimacy with 
the composers whose names have hitherto been more familiar than their works ; to do 
them thorough justice and attain perfection of expression, interpretation, and technique ; 
and to present the finest available soloists (of both instrumental and vocal music), giving 
opportunities to young artists of real merit, regardless of a lack of public recognition ; 
to work not selfishly for the private love of working, but for the public sharing of the 
worth that becomes greater according to the encouragement and appreciation which it 

receives. 

" The mother hopes her soldier son will be 

A hero ; and a hero she beholds, 

Born of the brave, and flattered heart of j'outh." 

Because our listeners, directors, and friends have anticipated success for our splendid 
labor, the result has been far better than if we had toiled unaided and appreciated. 
Music, talent, and genius will always live ; but they must be fed and cared for, and 
treated with consideration and sympathy. 

The first meeting of the Dorchester Symphony Society was held at Winthrop Hall, 
Saturday, Nov. 6, 1897. Among those present were Mr. C. F. Kittredge, Miss 
Emily Robinson, Miss Myrick, Miss Isabelle Robinson, Dr. J. A. Tanner, and Mr. 
George Virtue. A board of management was chosen, and Mr. Charles McLaughlin 
was elected conductor. Subscription papers were circulated in the many districts of 
Dorchester, and one hundred and fifty names were volunteered without hesitation. 

The first rehearsal was held November 16. A set of purely amateur performers 
was procured ; and, after five rehearsals, the first concert was given. The program 
included a Haydn symphony, overture. Son the Stranger, of Mendelssohn, three dances 
by Edward German, a piano solo by Miss Gertrude Thayer, and a violin solo by 
M. Wier, the concertmaster. 

It was remarkable how successfully Mr. McLaughlin commanded his young volun- 
teers, and what good results he secured from the few hours that had been earnestly spent 
in trying to bring their promising talents toward the unity that would best express every 
phrase and meaning of the wisely chosen music. 



The Dorchester Symphony 



49 



Four concerts, each one better than the last, were given the first season ; and by 
general request an extra concert was given at the end, which was enthusiastically 
received, the orchestra playing more and more as one perfect instrument. The 
reputation of the Symphony began to spread through the musical world, and critics 
came from the city of Gericke to hear for themselves. Said the Boston Transcript: — 

"To say that the orchestra has improved inadequately expresses the rapid progress 
the active members have made under their leader, Mr. Charles McLaughlin. The 
Schubert symphony in B minor was a surprise to all, being played with an unusual 
breadth of expression, and, something rare in amateur orchestras, in almost perfect 
harmony." (April 6, 1898.) 

On January 5, with many improvements and an enlarged orchestra, the second 
season was opened before a flattering audience of interested subscribers. The second 
concert was given on February 9, with Mr. John Turner as soloist. At the third concert 
of the season, M. Carl Treiber, the first 'cellist, and one of the best amateurs of the city, 
made a lasting impression with his solo work in Volkmann's Serenade. The fourth and 
last concert was perhaps the most ambitious effort of the society, — a Mozart symphony, 
(the Jupiter), the ballet music from Rosamunde of Schubert, the overture to Idmoneo, 
by Mozart, the Handel Largo (with solo by Mr. Traupe), and one or two smaller numbers. 
If Dorchester was not pleased and proud of this program and this concert, it lacked 
musical feeling and delicacy. I am sure it must have congratulated itself for being the 
native hearth of so many gifted performers. Mr. McLaughlin was overjoyed to see his 
dearest hopes approaching fulfilment, and the old hall shook with friendly vibrations. 

It is not always a satisfaction to share the experience of a young musical organiza- 
tion, and sometimes there is a feeling of duty more than interest or pleasure in the 
service we are doing ; but, from the very beginning, the members of the Dorchester 
Symphony Society have not only been interested, but devotedly enthusiastic and proud 
of the honor of being connected with the growing success of this brave little orchestra. 

CoLETTA Ryan. 







THE DORCHESTER MEDICAL CLUB. 




The Dorchester Medical Club came into existence 
on the 25th of July, 1866. at the call of Dr. C. Ellery 
Stedman, to consider the feasibility of establishing and 
maintaining a medical society in the town of Dor- 
chester for medical improvement and social enjoyment. 
There assembled Drs. Edward Jarvis, E. D. Miller, 
Henry Blanchard, Benjamin Gushing, W. C. B. Fifield, 
James S. Greene, and W. S. Everett. Approvals of the 
enterprise were received from Drs. J. P. Spooner, Jona- 
than Ware, and C. C. Holmes. These men were the 
original members and founders of the club. 

Of this eleven, three are still living and practising 
medicine to-day. Eight have ceased from their labors, 
and have gone where the weary rest, after serving Dorchester faithfully and well, with 
skill and ability, leaving behind them memories honored and beloved. 

Among this number three stand forth conspicuous for their pronounced individu- 
ality and sterling worth, as well as for their lives of earnest and untiring devotion to the 
sick and needy. 

Dr. Christopher C. Holmes was a remarkable practitioner of medicine, wise in 
counsel, brilliant, entertaining, and considered one of the shining lights of the club. He 
was for many years the Commander of the Cadets. 

Dr. William C. B. Fifield was for many years surgeon to the Boston City Hospital, 
and acquired a widely extended consultation practice. The accuracy of his memory as to 
what he had read and seen was phenomenal. He gave the club much to think about, and 
would convulse the members with laughter by his great wit and humor. 

Dr. Benjamin Gushing was an example of perfect uprightness of life and character ; 
and to him, as some one has said, "the younger men in the profession owe a debt of 
gratitude that can only be repaid by imitating the example he set them, and by practising 
medicine along the lines of high and ennobling virtue and devotion to right principles that 
he taught in all his counsels and illustrated and exemplified in his life." With a few 
words he carried more weight than any other member of the club. 

As these men formed and constituted the Dorchester Medical Club, so has it been 
perpetuated and carried on by their successors. 

Scientific improvement and a social interchange of friendly and mutual regard have 
ever marked its meetings. The influence on the profession throughout the community 
has been especially felt in establishing reciprocal and courteous relations. 

The club is composed at present of the following physicians : Drs. C. Ellery Sted- 
man, James S. Greene, Willard S. Everett (the three original members), Robert T. Edes, 
Daniel D. Gilbert, William P. Bolles, Orville F. Rogers, M. Vassar Pierce, Samuel Cro- 
well, John A. Tanner, David G. Eldridge, Clarence A. Cheever, Henry V. Reynolds, and 

Henry P. Jaques, honorary member. 

Samuel Crowell. 




BI.ACKMAN HOUStL 
.■irooD ofi wAsdinoi on il ,-(l ;>, Wanovi-r, 



LANDMARKS. 




the 
the 



ORCHESTER PLANTATION is one of the oldest settlements in the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay Colony, and the proud position it has maintained is owing 
largely to the sturdy character of its founders. Plymouth, as we all know, 
was the first of ti,e New England settlements; and Cape Ann, with Roger 
Conant and his followers, was the second. When Conant and his men abandoned their 
enterprise, they went to Naumkeag, and founded Salem. From Salem, Charlestown was 
settled ; but the scarcity of water there, and the representation of William Blaxton of the 
advantages of Shawmut, where countless springs abounded, caused a diversion in favor of 
Boston. On September 7 (O. S.), at the second General Court of the Colony at Charles- 
town, 

" It was Ordered, That Trimountain be called Boston ; Mattapan, Dorchester ; and 

town upon Charles River, Watertown." This was the official incorporation of 

town. 

The main settlement was about " Allen's Plain," and close by the first meeting-house 
and the first school-house were built. 

Rock Hill, the Old Hill, now Savin Hill, was selected as a point of vantage, on the 
crest of which a fort was erected and " great guns " mounted for purposes of defence. 
Around the hill Roger Ludlow, John Eeles, Richard Baker, Captain John Mason, Richard 
Leeds, Edward Bullock, and others built their homes. Fox Point received its name at a 
very early period. 

On the slope of the 



hill is a cellar 
hole where one of the first houses stood. 
Off Savin Hill Avenue, near the stone 
quarry, is the " old Barrack " so long 
occupied by the Revolutionary soldiers. 

Richard Baker's house stood where 
the Tuttle house now stands, and the 
great tree in front is said to have grown 
from a switch planted many years ago 
by Lois Wiswell. 

Jones's Hill, so named from Thomas 
Jones, one of the first settlers, lies be- 
tween Pleasant, Stoughton, Freeport, 
and Hancock Streets. John Wiswell, 
John Moseley, and Preserved Capen were 
also among those who built their homes 
on the hill. 

Colonel Israel Stoughton owned a 
vast estate which extended along Pleas- 
ant Street to Savin Hill Avenue. The 




52 The Dorchester Book 

homestead descended to his son William, afterward lieutenant governor, and at his 
death to his nephew Colonel William Tailer, afterward lieutenant governor, who built a 
wall about the estate from brick brought from the castle. 

The house was destroyed during the last century, and the estate is now covered by 
numerous dwellings. 

John Holland settled at Captain's Point, afterward Preston's, now Commercial Point. 
In 1635 he was authorized by the General Court to establish a ferry between Captain's 
Point and Newberry's (Billing's) Creek. The distance was so great that it proved unprofit- 
able, and was abandoned. Robert Pierce and George Minot settled in the Neponset 
section. Richard Collicott settled on Adams Street near Centre, beyond the Milton hill. 
This house was so far away that it was made a "garrison " 

Bark Warwick Cove lies between Freeport and Preston Streets. The vessel was 
condemned in 1636, and was drawn up in the cove to await orders for repairs. The 
owners left her there. The upper works gradually rotted and crumbled away, while the 
hull settled down in the mud, and has not been seen for many years. 

When the cellar for Roger Ludlow's house was being dug, some pieces of French 
money were unearthed, bearing date of the previous century, showing that the settlers 
were not the first white men to visit these shores. 

David Thompson had settled on this island which bears his name, and which had pre- 
viously been owned by William Trevour. 

Squantum from an early period had been a most important trading-place of the 
Indians. The Massachusetts Fields south of the Neponset had been the planting ground 
of the tribe. Here every spring they sowed their corn, fished in the bay, subsisting on 
the food they drew from the sea. When the Indian summer came, they gathered the corn, 
cured their fish, laying in stores tor the winter encampments in the forests along the Blue 
Hill range. 

Chickatawbut, the Neponset chief, proved a friendly ally. His son Josias was a strong 
friend of the colonists. 

The Indians disappeared long ago, but countless relics have been dug up at Squantum 
and at Mennen's moon (Moon Island). 

The first houses built by the settlers were rude cabins that long since have passed 
away. Of the colonial homesteads a few remain. Among the oldest is the house of 
Barnard Capen, which was erected some time prior to 1637. It stands on the upper road 
(now Washington Street), opposite Melville Avenue. It is but slightly altered, and is 
in a splendid state of preservation. The home of Captain Roger Clap still stands in 
Willow Court, off Boston Street. It was enlarged by Captain Lemuel Clap in 1767. 
Willow Court took its name from the massive willow-trees that lined the roadway to the 
house ; but they have been destroyed in the march of progress, and only decayed stumps 
remain. 

The Humphreys house stands on the corner of Dudley and Humphreys Streets. 
The estate has been in possession of the family since 1634. Though the house has been 
greatly enlarged and improved, a part of the first building is said to be enclosed within 
its walls. This house is one of the best known in the town, and is in a fine state 
of preservation, and is still occupied by one of the Humphreys. 

The Blake house, built previous to 1650 by Elder James Blake, has been removed 
from its original site on East Cottage Street, and now stands in one corner of Richard- 
son Park, and is the home of the Dorchester Historical Society. 



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Landmarks 53 

Another of the old landmarks is the home of Robert Pierce, now standing on Oak 
Avenue, just off Adams Street, on the lower road. It was probably erected previous to 
1640, the central portion being the oldest. The earliest addition was on the west side, 
the last on the east. It has always been owned and occupied by his descendants, and 
to-day it still remains the old Pierce homestead. Robert Pierce held grants of land 
at Pine Neck and in the " Great Lots," and it is supposed that he previously built a cabin 
at Pine Neck which he occupied for a few years. The site of the house was well known, 
as the cellar was visible for many years ; and the old well still remains. It is near the 
Neponset railroad station, in what is now known as Port Norfolk. His nearest neighbor 
on the hill was George Minot, who built his house on adjoining land. 

The exact date of the erection of the Minot House is not known, but it is certain that 
it was among the oldest in the town. Josselyn, writing in 1663, mentioned it among 
others ; and the Minot family place the date about 1640. The house was situated on 
Chickatawbut Street, and was built by George Minot, one of the first settlers of the town, 
a deputy to the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay and a ruling elder of 
the church for many years. The land which has been known as Squantum was also a 
portion of his estate. 

The Minot house was typical of the construction of those early days, a wooden build- 
ing, with its frame solidly filled with bricks that were brought from England. At the east 
end of the house the third story overhung the others, and was probably so built as a 
means of defence in case of an attack by the Indians. So solidly was this house built 
that it withstood the effects of time, yielding only to the flames which destroyed it in 
November, 1874. 

This property has always been owned by the Minot family, having been handed down 
through the eldest surviving son in each generation from George Minot to the present 
owner, Charles Henry Minot. 

George Minot was a contemporary of Elder Humphreys, and it is said that the fol- 
lowing lines were to be seen in the Old Burying Ground : — 

" Here lies the bodies of Unite Humphreys and Shining Minot. 
Such names as these they never die not." 

The Bridgham house, which was built some time previous to 1640, stood on Cottage 
Street, near Humphreys and Franklin Streets. It was destroyed in 1873. 

Of the Provincial houses the Taylor house, where Perez Morton lived, stood on 
Dudley Street, opposite Howard Avenue. It was one of the elegant mansions of Dor- 
chester, in the midst of spacious grounds in which had grown lofty elms. As the home 
of the attorney-general, it was the scene of many brilliant gatherings. 

The Everett house was built about 1770 by Robert Oliver. The Rev. Oliver Everett 
resided in this house in 1782; and in 1794 Edward Everett, his son, Dorchester's most 
brilliant orator, was born. This house has recently been destroyed. 

The Welles house was occupied in 1784 by General Henry Knox, and afterward by 
Daniel Webster. The Henry L. Pierce School stands on its site. Directly opposite was 
the home of Major Withington. This house was torn down in 1870. 

The Swan mansion was on Dudley Street, and was built over one hundred years ago. 
Colonel James Swan was an active patriot in the Revolution, and afterward Adjutant- 
General of the State. He journeyed to France some years after the close of the war. 



54 The Dorchester Book 

embarking in numerous enterprises, in which he accumulated a fortune. In 1808 he was 
involved in a law-suit; and, judgment being found against him, he was imprisoned 
twenty-two years. He resisted the claim because he considered it unjust, though he 
could have paid it at any time ; but he would not deviate from his fixed principles. He 
lived but a short time after his release. 

This was another mansion house in which hospitality was dispensed with a lavish 
hand. Colonel Swan was in Paris during the French Revolution, and secured many 
articles of furniture, draperies, paintings, and fixtures from the palaces, which afterward 
adorned his home. The house had a " Marie Antoinette Room " ; and, like the Deacon 
House of Boston, which had a similar room, it brought ill-fortune to the owner. 

The Walter Baker mansion on Washington Street, at the corner of Park, was built 
about 1750. It was first occupied by Lieutenant Governor Oliver. Colonel Benjamin 
Hichborn bought the house after the Revolution, and occupied it until he died, in 1817. 
In it he entertained some of the leading men of the country. It became the property of 
Mr. James Penniman, and from him Walter Baker purchased the house. It was occupied 
as a residence by his family until 1891. The house is now unoccupied. 

The home of John Dolbear still stands on Washington Street, south of the car sta- 
tion. It was built by Isaac Royall, Sr., early in the last century. 

The Governor Gardner house stood on Pleasant Street, on the easterly slope of 
Jones's Hill, and was built sometime prior to the Revolution. It was a near neighbor of 
the Appleton house, which still stands on Pleasant Street. 

It will be impossible in this article to speak of all the old houses now standing. But 
among them are the George Pierce house on Adams Street, opposite Minot ; the S. S. 
Pierce house on Marsh Street ; the Bicknell house on Minot Street, which formerly 
stood on the upper road and is only a part of the original structure ; and the Pope house 
on Adams Street, near Codman. The Codman house stands on Codman Hill, off Wash- 
ington Street. The Ball Hughes house is at the corner of Washington and School Streets. 
At the Lower Mills are the Tolman, Tileston, Frost, Crehore, Bispham, Badlam houses, 
Brewer's store, and other houses near by. 

The Blackman house stood on Washington Street, near Harvard, and was destroyed 
many years ago. On Bowdoin Street a part of the old house which stood on the Gov- 
ernor Bowdoin estate — removed a short distance from its original site — still stands. 
The Davenport house and the Topliff house are on the same street ; and where the Paro- 
chial School now stands was the home of Judge Cummins, a quaint picture of which is 
seen in the illustrations. The Bird house is on Columbia Road, near the burying-ground ; 
and several of the homes of the Clap family are on Boston Street. 

Mattapannock, or Dorchester Neck (now South Boston), is the historic portion of the 
old town. When the Revolution broke out, ten or more families resided there, who left 
their homes when the siege of Boston was fairly on. In the winter of 1776 the town of 
Boston was surrounded by a cordon of forts, extending from Winter Hill to Dorchester. 
The final struggle was near at hand when the British held the town and castle with bat- 
teries at the Green Store, near Dover and Washington Streets, and another battery 
between Dedham and Canton Streets. Early in February General Howe gathered 
information which led him to believe that the Americans were about to fortify Foster's, 
or Nook's, Hill. In the early morning of February 14 an attack was ordered. A detach- 
ment was to move from the Green Store battery — with another from the castle to drive 




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Landmarks 



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in the guard — to destroy every house and building and all material for defensive purposes 
that could be found. They crossed on the ice, captured six of the guard with a non- 
combatant, and destroyed six dwelling-houses and nine barns. The main body of the 
guard retired to their encampment near Savin Hill, while the regulars returned to the 
castle. 

Of the houses destroyed by the British, the finest was the home of Captain James 
Foster, which was occupied by his widow Mary and her children. It stood on the lot on 
E Street (near Fourth), where the Congregational church (now Grand Army Hall) stands. 
This was the first house built on the Neck. It was erected in 1673-74 by James Foster, 
the eldest son of Captain Hopestill Foster. 

The next house was that of Oliver Wiswall, which stood on the site of the Bird 
School-house. Another, occupied by Hopestill Withington, stood on Si.xth Street, be- 
tween I and K. The widow Ruth Bird occupied a house on G Street, near Fifth. James 
Blake occupied the second house, built in 168 1, and his brother Samuel another. Both 
houses stood near what is now Broadway and P Street. 

In the list of houses is a house, barn, and stable of Francis Bernard, the location of 
which is unknown. For these facts in relation to these houses we are indebted to the 
researches of Francis E. Blake, Esq. 

The Old Harbor is being improved by the construction of the Strandway. 

The Town Landing, so called, was east of Dorchester Avenue, opposite Creek Street. 
The way can be traced in part, though it has been built on to some extent and the con- 
struction of the railroad and the improved sewerage mains have destroyed the greater 
part of the old creek. 

Bray Wilkins established a ferry between Davenport's Creek on the Neponset side 

to the ridge at Sling Point. The way to the ferry (Marsh Street), one of the oldest 

streets of the town, is now but little used. The landing place is not easily accessible, 

but traces of the landing and ferry way are yet visible. 

Edward W. McGlenen. 



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INSTITUTIONS. 

^55IHERE are within the limits of Dorchester more institutions for the adminis- 
tration of wise benevolence than can be described in this brief article. When 
one looks through a list of the charitable and beneficent institutions of 
Boston, he is amazed at their number and variety. Of these Dorchester has 
its full share. 

No one knows better than the experienced worker among the poor how valuable is 
the "ounce of prevention" administered to boys and girls in the form of industrial 
training. 

The Industrial School for Girls, founded in 1853, is on Centre Street. Girls from ten 
to fifteen years old are received here, and trained to good conduct and habits of self-sup- 
port. Parents or guardians must put them under the entire control of the managers for a 
fi.xed time. On leaving the school for service, the girls are generally placed in country 
families, where they may still be controlled to a certain extent by the managers. Those 
who are received by the school generally come from homes which have been broken up 
by the death of one or both the parents, or by desertion, or rendered unfit by drink or 
crime. The girls attend public school, and are besides thoroughly trained in housework, 
sewing, etc. Some of these girls, and not always the most tractable, turn out to be very 
competent and attractive women. 

The Liversidge Institution of Industry is for boys only, and they must be natives of 
England or New England. 

This institution is beautifully located on River Street, about half-way between Dor- 
chester Lower Mills and Mattapan. It receives and trains poor and neglected boys from 
seven to fourteen years old. The founder of this wise charity was born in England, but 
spent nearly the whole of his life in Dorchester. 

Gordon House, at Field's Corner, has been doing brave and helpful work among the 
children of both sexes for more than twelve years. It maintains classes in dressmaking, 
sewing, cane-seating, cobbling, singing, knitting, cooking, housekeeping, and drawing. It 
has a station of the stamp-saving society. It has several clubs, and it also furnishes some 
lectures and entertainments for adults. As a civilizing agency, its influence has been 
marked. 

One of the institutions which especially touched the heart of Phillips Brooks and en- 
listed his active support is the Home for Incurables on Dorchester Avenue, between Ash- 
mont and the Lower Mills. 

Men, women, and children who are afflicted with any incurable disease, except cancer, 
consumption, epilepsy, mental disorder, or contagious diseases, are received here and 
tenderly cared for. It is a genuine " home," in the best sense of the word ; and one may 
see there, along with much suffering heroically borne, abundance of cheerfulness, often 
bubbling up into fun and laughter. 

Institutions worthy of all praise are the Free Home for Consumptives on Quincy 
Street and the St. Mary's Infant Asylum and Lying-in Hospital on Gushing Avenue. 
Both are under Catholic control, but patients of all religious faiths are received. 

The Convalescent Home on Dorchester Avenue is a branch of the Boston City Hos- 
pital, where women, girls, and young boys are received when recovering from acute diseases. 







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DORCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



T^ ilf^^ HE inception of the Dorchester Historical Society is due to Mr. James H. 
»jFy^^ Stark and the distinguished antiquarian, IVIr. William H. Whitmore, the 
M^^RL' city registrar, who was its first president. The act of incorporation was 
2Sss^^ granted by the legislature in the year 1891, for the purpose of collecting, 
preserving, and publishing information in regard to the history of that portion of the 
city of Boston which formerly constituted the town of Dorchester. 

The society was organized at a meeting called by a majority of the applicants for 
the act of incorporation, in Blake Hall, Field's Corner, Dorchester, on the loth of April, 
1893. 

At a regular meeting, May i, 1893, a code of by-laws was adopted, and the society 
was fully organized by the choice of William H. Whitmore as president, Willis B. 
Mendum as secretary, John J. May, James H. Stark, Elbridge Smith, Thomas W. 
Bicknell, Herbert M. Manks, D. Chauncey Brewer, directors. 

It was voted at the meeting that women should be admitted to membership upon 
the same terms as men. 

April II, 1894, the society celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the birthday 
of Edward Everett by a public meeting in Winthrop Hall. There was an oration by 
Dr. James De Normandie, followed by remarks from James H. Stark, Rev. W. E. C. 
Smith, and others. The details of the celebration were published by the city in a hand- 
some volume for distribution among those interested. 

Oct. 25, 1895, efforts which the society had been making for some time previous 
for the preservation of the "old Blake house," built in 1650, were successful. 

When it came into the hands of the Dorchester Historical Society, it stood upon land 
just purchased by the city adjoining the municipal conservatory, and would have been 
torn down but for our interposition. Dr. Clarence J. Blake, the distinguished aurist, as 
descendant in the ninth generation of the original owner of the structure, with his father, 
the late John H. Blake, and other relatives, pledged themselves to contribute upward of 
twelve hundred dollars, when the work of removal to its present site should be undertaken. 
Further liberal contributions from public-spirited friends of the society were pledged. 

The work of removal and restoration was immediately undertaken, and carried to 
completion under the direction of Mr. Charles Hodgdon, architect, and by the following 
spring the work was finished and the house occupied by the society. The house is in 
charge of a custodian, and is open to the public every Monday afternoon. 

The present board of officers is as follows : president, John J. May ; secretary and 
treasurer, Charles Hodgdon ; directors, John J. May, James H. Stark, George C. Burgess, 
Edwin T. Home, D. Chauncey Brewer, Colonel Henry W. Wilson. The society has had 
many exceedingly interesting papers prepared and read by its members, some of deep 
research. 

The late Willis B. Mendum established the fact that the first town meeting was held 
in Dorchester, and the first free school supported by public taxation was established here. 



5^ The Dorchester Book 

The society, through one of its members, the distinguished engineer, Colonel Henry 
W. Wilson, is at work on a map of ancient Dorchester, showing the original grantees — 
a work which will be of rare value to antiquarians and all persons interested in genealo-y 

It will thus be seen the Dorchester Historical Society is a vital force in the com- 
munity, and affords a practical opportunity for those who desire to promote an historical 
interest in the very sources of our country's life. 

Charles Hodgdon. 



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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DORCHESTER SEAL. 




'N the " Town Records " there appears a report of the committee chosen by the 
town in April, 1865, " to procure a seal suitable as a corporate seal of the town 
of Dorchester." From this report a thorough interpretation of the shield may 
be derived : — 

The early settlers of Dorchebter organized themselves as a church at the New Hospi- 
tal in Plymouth, England, in March of 1630, prior to their embarkation for this country, 
which act was pre-eminently the corner-stone of the foundation of this town, although they 
did not arrive here until early in June of that year. 

This fact is expressed upon the shield by the rude thatch-roofed church which appears, 
without a chimney, in the dexter base of the escutcheon. 

The free school, the system of which has been exerting a beneficial influence over the 
whole country, was established in this town in 1639, and is said to be the very first free 
school in the world. The foundation of this institution is recognized on the shield by the 
humble, thatched-roof building in the lower part of the shield a little in the rear of the 
church. 

With the liberty, and by grant of land and timber by the town in 1633, Israel Stough- 
ton was induced to build a corn-mill upon Neponset River, which was the first water mill 
in the colony, if not in the country. This fact is symbolically noted by the rude mill, with 
its large wheel, which is seen upon the left bank of Nepon- 
set River, the course of which river, from its source to its 
mouth, lay through the ancient territory of Dorchester. 

" In the background will be recognized the Blue Hills, 
which served as a landmark to pilot the early settlers 
to the mouth of Charles River, and from behind which 
the rising sun is shining upon a colony who left their 
homes in the mother country, not as adventurers in 
search of gold, as exiles, or for conquest, but for the more 
precious boon of religious liberty. The triple-towered 
castle surmounting the shield is adopted in respectful 
memory of Dorchester in old England, of whose seal this 
is the principal charge (in commemoration of that borough having been formerly a 
Roman fortress), and from which place the infant colony derived much of its strength, 
both physically and spiritually. The motto upon the ribbon, ' Pietate, Literis, Industria,' 
signifies that piety, learning, and industry were the prominent virtues which the early 
settlers coveted, and which their descendants unanimously accord to them." 




EDITORIAL. 

/^UR pleasant task is finished. Here we rest, and return thanks. To the contributors whose 
^^^ names appear with these articles ; to members of the Local History Class of the Dorchester 
Woman's Club, and especially to Mrs. Eleanor Hoskins Waitt, for valuable material placed at the 
disposal of the editor ; to William B. Trask, J. Grafton Minot, H. W. Warren, E. A. Huebener, 
Miss C. F. Jacobs, W. B. Everett, Walter Cutter, and Parker B. Field, for the loan of many inter- 
esting photographs and paintings here reproduced ; to Miss May Caldwell, for many charming 
sketches ; to Edward W. McGlenen, McHenry Robinson, Edgar I. Evans, and George A. Clough, 
for faithful service with the camera in behalf of this book ; to all the good friends who have 
advertised in these pages ; and last, but not least heartily, to Mrs. Mary C. C. Robinson, without 
whose invincible industry, energy, and courage this book would not have been, — to all these 
and many others who have helped, — the Women's Alliance of Christ Church offers heartfelt 
thanks. 



The Dorchester Book 



Dorchester Savings Bank, 

No. 586 Columbia Road, Upham's Corner, Dorchester, Mass. 



President, 
Frederick L. Walker. 



Benj. B. Whittemore. 
Frederick L. Walker. 
Henry G. Allbright. 
Albert H. Stearns. 
Geo. L. Burt. 



Vice-Presidents, 
Benj, B. Whittemore. 
W, W. Whitmarsh. 

BOARD OK TRUSTEES. 
W. W. Whitmarsh. 
John E. Tuttle. 
Lawrence J. Logan. 
Henry S. MacPherson. 
Daniel Lovering, Jr. 
George T. Sears. 



Treasurer, 
Geo. T. Sears. 



C. J. McCoRMICK. 

George E. Frost. 
Edwin S. Woodbury. 
Charles F. Conn. 
George B. Phippen. 



All money deposited on or before second Wednesday of January, April, [uly, and October will go on 
interest at those dates. Dividends payable second Wednesday of April and October. 

Bank open from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily, Saturdays, 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. 



A. Rich. 



S. P. Matthews. 



RICH & MATTHEWS, 

DEALERS IN ALL KINDS OF 

Fresh and Smoked Fish, Lobsters, 
Clams, Cod Liver Oil, etc. 

1 1 3 and 1 1 7 Faneuil Hall Market, Boston, Mass. 

Established 15 Years. 

FRED C. GREENE, 

Registered 
Pharmacist, 

357 Adams Street, Dorchester, Mass. 



FRANK A. FOSTER, 

civil engineer, surveyor, 
and contractor, 

34 School Street, Room 43, 
Boston. 

Tel., Boston and Dorchester. 



RESERVED 







^*"-A^ 



leyef. 









1440 DORCHESTER AVET^-^^ipecidl Attention. ^ 
FIELD'S CORNER. to Parties.Weddings.etc 



The Dorchester Book 



J. H. Record, 



J. THORNDIKE. 



H. T. GERRISH. 



MANUFACTURER OF 




Collars, 
Express and 
Heavy 

Harness^ 



AND DEALER IN 



Blankets^ Robes, 

Whips, etc. 

REPAIRING 

of all kinds. 

1343 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester, Mass. 

Hunts 
Market. 

143^ Do?-c/iester Ave.^ 
Field's Coi'ner. 

I sell Fir St- class Goods at reaso?i- 
able prices. 

Goods delivered in a?iy part of 
Dorchester Free of Charge. 

W^iliiam Hiint^ Proprietor. 



Thorndike & Gerrish, 



Wholesale Dealers in 
Brighton Dressed 



Mutton, 
Lamb, 

and Veal, 



. ... AND .... 



Native and 
Western Poultry. 



62 North Market Street, 
Boston. 



TELEPHONE, 162IJ HAYMARKET. 



Connolly & Davis, 

Reliable Prescription 
Druggists. 

The best goods obtainable at reasonable 
prices. 

Competent men in attendajice. 

Tour Patrofiage Solicited. 

N.B. — We have removed from our location in 
the Field Building to our new store in the Post-office 
Block, corner of Fenno Place. 

3 STORES. 3 STORES. 

AsHMONT. Field's Corner. Neponset. 



The Dorchester Book 



RESERVED 



N. T. ROBINSON, 
HAY, GRAIN & STRAW. 



ALL KINnS OF 



Feed for Horses and Cattle. 
Poultry Feed^ Mi?ieral Salt. 



Glover's Corner, 
Dorchester. 



CONNECTED BY TELEPHONE. 



Lincoln Stables, 

p. McMORROW, Proprietor. 
258 Adams Street, .-. Dorchester District. 

HACK, BOARDING, 
AND LIVERY. :: :: 



HORSES FOR SALE. 



Telephone 329-2. 



HART, 
DRUGGIST AND APOTHECARY. 

Dorchester Ave. and Freeport Street. 

Glover's Corner, 
Dorchester, Mass. 



Dorchester Fish Market. 

Depot for all kinds of 

OCEAN, LAKE, RIVER 

FISH. 

FANCY FISH A SPECIALTY. 

Oysters and Clams, Fresh Country Eggs, Canned 

Goods, Vegetables, and Fruit. 

orders called for and goods delivered promptly. 

J. J. MAYO, Proprietor, 

653 Washington Street, : : : : Dorchester. 



RESERVED 



T. F. MJGUIRE, 



DEALER IN 



Choice Beef, Mutton, 
Lamb, Veal, Pork, 

Hams, Bacon, Corned Beef, Tongues, etc. 

Poultry and Ga.me in Season. 
Goods Promptly Delivered. 

1275 DORCHESTER AVE. 



J. C. NICHOLS. 



C. M. NICHOLS. 



The Hoyt Company, 

Hardware, Wall Paper, Paint, 
CUTLERY. 

347 Broadway, South Boston. 
1246 to 1256 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester. 



The Dorchester Book 



John H. McCarthy, 

Commission Dealer in 

BEEF, 
MUTTON, 
LAMB, AND 
VEAL, 

12 Clinton Street, . . . Boston. 

LEO TOM, 

Chinese Laundry^ 

349 Adams Street, Dorchester. 

Work will be called for and delivered, if so desired. 



Compliments of 

Dr. F. M. SALLES. 



Telephone, Haymarket 358. 

H. & R. ATWOOD, 

Planters and Wholesale Dealers in 

Providence River 
and Virginia 

•• OYSTERS •••• 

Also all the varieties of 

NATIVE OYSTERS. 

49 Commercial Street and 
56 Clinton Street, 
146 AND 148 Atlantic Avenue, 

BOSTON. 




Corn-raised stock makes the finest meat. 

It is firmer, richer, and costs us more; but we sell 
it at the same price that wild Western beef, mutton, 
and pork bring in most markets. 

Our profits are less on each sale, but the greater 
satisfaction to customers results in our increased patron- 
age each year. 

You will find The Faneuil Hall Branch Market 
to be the only market selling the Best Goods at 
STRICTLY Boston prices. 

GEORGE ^. MacBRIDE, 

FIELD'S CORNER. 



The Dorchester Book 



F. M. KINGSBURY, 

WHOLESALE 

Produce 
Commission Merchant 

AND DEALER IN 

All Kinds of Fruit and Produce. 

No. 1 5 Mercantile Street, 
BOSTON, MASS. 

Telephone, 472 Hm. 



RESERVED 



Dance and Society Halls 

TO LET IN 

STEWART BUILDING, 

Geneva Avenue, corner Bloomfield Street. 

Houses and Land for Sale, 

Apartments to Let. 

APPLY TO OWNER, 

JOSEPH L STEWART, 
Residence, 50 Bloomfield Street, Dorchester. 

Telephones: Dorchester 130, Boston 2431-2. 

Miss Mary D. Chandler, 

Concert Pianist 
and Teacher. 



Best Coffee 

IN 

The World, 

Golden Dome. 



ASK FOR IT. 



W. S. QUINBY CO. 

Wholesale onlv. 



PEOPLE'S MARKET. 

D. A. MURPHY. 

Groceries and Provisions, 

Fruit, Fish, Poultry, 
and Game in their season. 

1377 Dorchester Avenue, 
BOSTON. 

MRS. A. G. BUFFUM, 

236 Adams Street. 



STORE for 



Dry and 



T 



Fancy Goods, 

Christmas Novelties. 



North Avenue Laundrv. 



Telephone 144- 



Yerxa's Boston Branch, 

GROCERS. 



Turner Gold Medal, N. E. C, LeSchetizky School. I Orders by Telephone will receive Prompt Attention. 



5 Ashland Street, 
Dorchester. 



132 Boylston Street, 
Tuesday and Friday. 



1435 Dorchester Avenue 
and 206 Adams Street, 



Field's Corner, 



Dorchester. 



Orders called for and goods delivered promptly. 



The Dorchester Book 



Soule Photograph Co.^ 

Art Publishers. 

Mounted and Unmounted Photographs of 
Works of Art 



Views from all parts of the world. 
Special Collection of the 

Historic Houses of New England. 

Framing to Order. 

Framed Pictures for Whist Prizes and Holiday 
Gifts. 

338 Washington Street, Boston. 
One flight. 



William B. Taylor. 



J. Louis Taylor, Jr. 



Taylor Brothers^ 
LAUNDRY, 



UPHAM'S CORNER, 

Dorchester. 



Telephone Connection. 



Compliments of 



HOUGHTON & BUTTON. 



Woman 

Suffrage 



Tracts. 



a sample set of woman suffrage tracts, 
40 different kinds, sent postpaid for 10 
cents. The set includes opinions and argu- 
ments in favor of woman suffrage by Clara 
Barton, Secretary of the Navy Long, Hon. 
George F. Hoar, William Lloyd Garrison, 
George William Curtis, Frances E. Wil- 
lard, Mary A. Livermore, J. G. Whittier, 
Henry W. Longfellow, Ralph Waldo 
Emerson, Phillips Brooks, Florence Night- 
ingale, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Sumner, 
and many other eminent men and women. 

Address 

Massachusetts Woman Suffrage 
Association, 

3 Park Street, Boston, Mass. 



The Dorchester Book 



Elliott's Flour takes the lead. 



Snow Brothers, 



GROCERS, 

291 Adams Street, Dorchester. 

561 High Street, Dedham. 

Norfolk Street, corner Edson, 

Dorchester. 



E. G. Davis & Son, 

81 and 83 Main Street, 
Charlestown. 



It is quick to serve to 

Lodges, 

Societies, 
and FamiUes. 




J. EDWIN SWAN, 

Plumbing, Gas-fitting, Steam and Hot 
Water Heating. 

Furnaces, Ranges, Tin-plate and Sheet- 
iron Worlc. 

1 141 Washington Street, 

Corner River Street, Dorchester Lower Mills. 

Telephone, 75-3 Milton. 

Telephone 1839. 

Vacuum Oil Co.^ 

45 PURCHASE STREET, 
Boston. 
Lubricating Oils. 



Lamson & Hubbard, 



Manufacturers of 



Fine Silk, Stiff, 
Soft, and Straw 



HATS. 

Ladies' Furs. 



90 to 94 Bedford Street, cor. Kingston, 
BOSTON, MASS. 



Compliments of 

HENRY W. HUBBARD, 

Real Estate, 

DORCHESTER. 



The Dorchester Book 



This book, was printed by 
GEO. H. ELLIS 

No. 272 Congress Street 

Boston 



i^dtl?iVlJgW?15WTg?g 



Zt BEDFORD ST. — 
- BOSTON 



g«»>'^ 



AKEB5GFPLATE5AND- 
DESIGN5 0F-EVERY- 
DESCCIPTIONFGftALL-l 
ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES- 



PHONE 813-2 OXFORD 



^bc Christian Register 

FOUNDED IN 1811 

George Batchelor, Editor 

As a religious family newspaper, 77/;' Christian 
Register aims to assist the Unitarian Cliurch in ren- 
dering to the public the highest possible service by 
presenting and illustrating living truths capable of im- 
mediate application in the lives of all sorts and condi- 
tions of men. While it deals with public affairs and 
current events, with science and literature and art, its 
main purpose always is to enlighten, to comfort, and 
to strengther . 



Sample copies se?it free on application 



Published at $2.00 per year by 

Cbc Christian Register Hssociation 

272 Congress Street, Boston, Mass. 



This book can be obtained of 

Mrs. McHENRY ROBINSON, 

27 Shawmut Park, 

Dorchester, 

at 50 cents per copy ; 60 cents by mail. 
Cloth bound copies, $ i .00 ; by mail, 1 1 . 1 5. 



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